Poetry Slam!: "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The speaker of Shelley’s famous Romantic poem meets a traveler who describes the ruined statue of an ancient mythical ruler named Ozymandias. Read the text here.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. antique
    belonging to or lasting from times long ago
    I met a traveller from an antique land
  2. vast
    unusually great in size or amount or extent or scope
    Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert
  3. visage
    the appearance conveyed by a person's face
    Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk a shattered visage lies
  4. sneer
    a facial expression of contempt or scorn
    whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
  5. passion
    a strong feeling or emotion
    whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
  6. mock
    imitate with derision
    The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
  7. pedestal
    an architectural support or base
    And on the pedestal these words appear:
  8. despair
    abandon hope; lose heart
    My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
    Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
  9. decay
    an inferior state resulting from deterioration
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.
  10. colossal
    so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.
  11. stretch
    occupy a large, elongated area
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.
  12. level
    having a surface without slope
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Created on Thu Mar 28 22:21:43 EDT 2013 (updated Fri Mar 30 13:58:08 EDT 2018)

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