Poetry Study, Ozymandias and Go, Lovely Rose - Essay Example

English Poetry Study, Ozymandias and Go, Lovely Rose Bysshe Shelly poem “Ozymandias” and Edmund Waller’s “Go, Lovely Rose” are unique old works of poetry that have received attention in the language art. Ozymandias is a poem that was composed in the year 1818 and is so much tied to the historical events that were taking place during that time. The poem is central to the death of a king as narrated by a fellow country person. After the king dies, the people can only note the remains but he ends up losing his centrality in the society. On the other hand, “Go, Lovely Rose” is a poem that was composed in 1645 and seems to capture the nature of life on Earth and its worthiness. The poem reflects the message from a lover who compares the girl he admires to a rose flower. If the flower does not expose its beauty to the people when it is still young, it will be long forgotten after it has withered down. The two poems point out to the same theme of the temporariness of life of an earth. Life on Earth is temporary and is bound to end at some point. In Ozymandias, the persona recalls having encountered a traveler from “an antique land” who narrated about a statue that was destroyed in his local country (Mikics Para. 1). The statue that had only two legs and the head that bore a face that was well sculptured to expose the moods of the statue. The emotions can still be observed even long after the sculptor and the subject had long been dead. On the pedestal of the statue was the words “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings” and besides the lifeless statue was nothing but only “lone and level sands” (Poem Hunter). The poem appears to be a short, but rich story that is expressed in the words of a stranger. The poem signifies the pride of the kings as they call themselves “king of kings “ and construct permanent works of art that last long after they are dead. Shelly seems to offer a criticism of the kings by ironically referring to their arrogance that is destroyed by the power of time. The main message is that life is not permanent and that even the pride of time is undermined by the ruinous power of time. Symbolism is one of the styles that Bysshe uses to add develop her message. One symbolic feature that the poet uses is the absence of the central body of the sculpture. Only the two concrete legs appear and a head placed beside the sculpture. The use of this image seems to refer to the loss of the king’s legacy after the ruinous time has taken past him. The implication of this is that time erodes all the aspects of a person and they fade away. The pride of the king as “king of kings” cannot outlast the works of art that they created (Brackett 190). The use of symbolism assists the poet to develop a perfect 14 lines sonnet while expressing her message within the short poem. On the other hand, Waller’s poem “Go, lovely Rose” features the words of flower bearer who intends to send with a message to a beautiful woman. Before sending the flower, he gives it a message concerning the beauty that she possesses. The flower should pass the information that she is a sweet and fair as the rose flower and that she is comparable to the same flower in all the aspects. She should come out and be desired rather than hide from the people. She should remain hidden like “In desert where no men abide” as at some point in her life she is going to wither like the flower. He says that “… uncommented died” to signify the people who spent the short time they had in life and later died without ever being desired (Poetry Foundation). Waller’s message in this poem is that beauty is as temporary as life is and the only way to enjoy it is coming out to be admired by the people (Brackett 192). Symbolism is used here to compare the young girl and a flower that has a temporary beauty and will one day dry and be forgotten. The two poems point out to the same thing that life is never permanent and that people at some time are meant to leave the earth eventually. In the Ozymandias, the king who was once proud of their greatness eventually died and only the emotions of the sculpture could be read. Mikics (Para. 5) points out that the “two trunkless legs of stone” that have no body signify the lack of the centrality of the king. The king’s death wiped away their centrality and the only thing that remains is the expression of their actions among the people. On the other hand, the lovely flower was a symbol of the girls who was pretty young and attractive. However, just like the rose dries, after a short while, the woman will also lose their life, beauty, and all will be gone. In addition, every rose has its own thorn implying that that even the beautiful have their own negative side that balances their positive. The two poems point out that life is temporary and that it is bound to end at some point when one will become “nothing” after death. “Go, lovely Rose” is a poem that is lyric and employs both rhyme and meter to develop the message in a stylistic manner. In the first stanza, the author employs an ababb rhyme scheme to bring out the message of the poem more vividly. The rhyme pattern makes it a lyric that passes both a persuasive message to convince the girl to avoid wasting time by shying away. In Beysshe’s sonnet, the first five lines have a rhyme scheme of dndndd and ends with a rhyme scheme of ryry, a rhyme scheme that many poets have considered atypical for a sonnet. The possible implication of this theme is that life ends differently from the way it starts. The ruinous power of time destroys the pride and arrogance of great kings and reduces them to nothing on the earth (Mikics Para. 2). Both poems have extensively employed the use of meter to meet the requirements of standard poetry art. The poem “Go, lovely Rose” employs iambic dimeter tetrameter while “Ozymandias” uses iambic pentameter a peculiar feature of a sonnet. “Ozymandias” is a poem that was inspired by the historical political set up in Egypt in the 19th century. In this time, rumor had it that the British wanted to acquire the statue of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesse with the intention of putting it in the British museum (Brackett 191). The implication of the poem is that famous kings, who build impermanent structures and ended being nothing long after their legacies became obsolete as the power of the time. On the other hand, Waller was a politician and a poet who seems to have been inspired by the way time changes events in life. After remaining loyal to the king, he was later banished and his reflection on the impermanence may be reflecting on his impermanence of his existence in the king’s throne. The man who was a loyal member of the king later had to struggle with life just like ordinary people. This point out that death does not distinguish a king and ordinary person. After they die, they all turn out to be forgotten and they end up losing their objective life on earth. The work of both authors seems to mirror the historical events that they had experienced during their time. In conclusion, the work of Besshe “Ozymandias” and Waller’s “Go, Lovely Rose” are build the theme of temporariness of life. Beauty and Leadership are things that are desirable in the society and often come along with pride and arrogance. The two poets point out that in the eventuality of death, beauty and kingship will all vanish and become nothing. They are powerful elements that people can express in the society while they are still living or else it would be useless in their death. Although the two poems are based on the 18th and 17th century, they exhibit masterly of poetry and superior articulation of style in developing the main message of the poem. The message of the two poems is coherent to their life experiences and the political set up during these olden days. This is the reason why these pieces of the poem have become admirable works of literature in the contemporary poetry. Works Cited Brackett, Virginia. The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry: 17th and 18th Centuries. New York: Facts On File, 2008. Print. Mikics, David. Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Ozymandias”, A poem to Outlast Empires. Poetry Foundation. Poem Hunter. Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. 2012. Online. Accessed from: < http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ozymandias/>[Accessed on 19th Nov, 2013] Poetry Foundation. Go, Lovely Flower by Edmund Waller. 2013. 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