Comparing Ozymandias By William Wordsworth And Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Romantic period was a key intellectual movement involving the usage of individualism, nature, idealism, and an obsession with the supernatural. Within the European circle, notable poets from Germany, France and England helped to shape the messages and revolutionary ideals to be read and inspired by. Two key poets from England, William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley, made it their goals to set forth as major influences to the movement. These two authors were intertwined within their works, as well as being connected through their own experiences that made them uniquely similar yet different. When comparing the two, it is important to take a closer look at both poets’ elemental styles that they possess in order to hear the voice of

These elements are prominent within Percy Shelley’s many acclaimed works. Imbued with his inept skill for imagery and details, Shelly then ties them in to create the perfect metaphor for his audience to interpret. This ability can be demonstrated within the piece ‘Ozymandias’. Ozymandias is an iambic pentameter focusing upon the image of a shattered, ruined statue in the desert wasteland. Shelley’s description of the statue reiterates the meaning of the figure of “king of kings”: first we see the “shattered visage,” then the face itself, with its “frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command” (Shelly, Lines 4-5); and we become accustomed towards the implied personality residing within the sculptor, and are able to imagine the process of sculpting the living king, whose face wore the expression of the passions inferred

This makes sense when considering the selfless attitude that the romantic age mirrors. A good poet is able to show excitement and fascination within the world they created, aimed towards the people they write about. “Ode to the West Wind” is about the inspiration Shelley draws from nature, while also using stylized formatting to better show a pattern both within the story as well as to the audience. Shelley is speaking both to and for the personification of the west wind, almost pleading with it for help in establishing communication with others. This piece almost parallels a sonnet with the usage of figurative language present. Throughout the entire poem, Shelley’s usage of assonance allows the reader to flow through the piece seamlessly, while letting his personification of nature come into view. Starting with the first line, we immediately come to terms with the wind’s characterization with both the continuous apostrophe provided, as well as a complex simile in lines 18-23. “Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread/On the blue surface of thine aëry surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head/Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge/Of the horizon to the zenith's height, The locks of the approaching storm.” (Shelley, 18-23). Associated with change, the West Wind may attract languish and the ideology of