Evaluation with new criticism approach : Ozymandias

Welcome all readers!

Let's have a look on how "new criticism and its features are applied to Ozymandias poem" and how a specific kind of analyzation and evaluation can be done by refraining myself from attendant circumstances of the poetry/poem.

-Task assigned by Dilip Barad (sir)

New criticism :

1. Poetry should be regarded as independent and self-sufficient verbal object. While the first law of criticism according to John Crowe Ransom says : "It shall be objective, shall cite the nature of the object" and shall recognize "the autonomy of the work itself as existing for it's own sake". Furthermore it should be isolated from its attendant circumstances and effects.

2. Principles of the "New criticism": it is a special kind of language, whose attributions are define by opposing the systematic science, logical or practical language. While the actual process is to explicitly analyze the meanings, interactions of words and figures of speech.

PRECAUTIONS :  The reader is warned against separating the two "overall structure and verbal meanings". To which Cleanth Brooks has called the heresy of paraphrase.

3. The distinctive procedure of a new critic, is to have close/explicative reading of the object. What should be the close reading? This question arises in our minds. That is to refer in  detail the analysis of complex interrelationship and ambiguities of the verbal and figurative components within a work(stressing all kind of information relevant to the full understanding of a word or passage).

4. The essential components of any literary work, unconcerned of its genres, are words; images and symbols rather than plot, character and thought(based on Aristotelian tragedy). It is primarily a structure of meanings, which evolve into an integral and freestanding unity mainly through a play.

Based on aforementioned parameters, we will analyze and evaluate "Ozymandias" poem-Percy Bysshe Shelley.

"I met a traveler from an antique land".

When reading this poem, we come to know it is written in "first person" as "I" is emphasised here. Moving further we also have two elements in the very first line to evaluate, that is "traveller" and "antique land": without its connections to the rest of the line of poem, we see 'there is a traveller's and also a person named "I" not revealed about his identity(a narrator) who is given an information on an 'antique land'. Antique can be interpreted as "old" or something unique/delicate/a heritage of people or place. Traveller can be said as it desert, may be walking on  barren land/riding a camel/ exceptionally having something to drive.

"Who said, "two vast and trunkless legs of stone".

In the second line the narrator is given a description of the visage by the tra eller. When we simply read it without any context, it seems to us 'as something two is in figure and which is in distortive manner and here the figure of speech called "personification" is used. Two is used as an adjective to describe the visage.

"Stand in the desert near them, on sand".

Here the visage is standing near the two, but one is giving the description and another is listening but as a reader one thing stucks in our mind that if the traveller is able to see, won't the narrator able to see? Is he blind or knowing to ignore something not trying to look into it.

Trunkless can be interpreted as soft/without support/deformed etc.

"Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command".

This is the description of the visage, who is lying, sinking half in the desert, shattered/wrecked/broken/in haphazard manner.

"Frown" expression of a feeling can be interpreted as storm/calamity/something to harm someone/when the nature get destroyed as also looks at frowning at human beings/ when the person is in no mood(melancholy) he/she would feel as surrounding is frowning at them.

For example : Hamlet's melancholic state.

Here action verb called 'sunk' is described by the adjective "half" that describes the status of the visage, subsequently visage, lips and the manner of someone's commanding attitude is described by some Particularize adjectives. Which have the ample of pregnant meanings in them.

"Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,

Which yet survived, stamped on the lifeless things".

Concerning previous description of the traveller, it also says that if a sculptor has tried to create such a piece, like this old visage,he/she may be existing at his time and knowing how was he dealing, tackling, perhaps exploiting the people, who came in touch with him. Which gives a lively effect,  seems as yet surviving though it has become lifeless/inanimated/deceased/dormant static etc. He had read his passions either those are in negative/positive mood.

The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.

Taking the prior first phrase it shows as perhaps the hand was agitating that statue to do something disastrous or anythingelse/teasing or making that thing in such a way that it was able to catch everyone's attention in mocking manner.

While with the rest phrase it shows contradiction "fed & mocked"(oxymoron). Heart feeds its emotions into the statue, or if taking heart as only a shape then it can't feed, it will be fixed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Pedestal is a thing/prop/support on which an another thing is situated/based. But here as the words need support to appear. Then perhaps in king's personal life he would have taken false/positive support from others, which we can't specify.


Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Here he has talked about his works. Which are mighty yet he is in despair. However someone has worked mightily but if he/she is in despair then how it is justifiable. So perhaps it has been done for his own welfare rather than others because king's do have great responsibility on their shoulders to work for their expectancy. But he may be failed in doing so.

Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

Then at last it is said in this poem that whatever one has done throughout his life, won't remain as it is. It gets change from time to time, the thing remaining is, his good deeds.

Round  the decay: means something is hovering around one, it has been squared round, don't know if he is going to come out or not.

Colossal wreck: that has been damaged, describes the state of statue. Due to these all extreme surrounding thing it has been put in dilapidated state and now perhaps the real king is seen who was until now bounded(where we were to see him in his kingly manner) but now he is bare.

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Which he has until now tried to level in with his own accordance, all has been swept away from it's own nature.

To be continued..