In about 450 B.C., the city of Olympia — where the first Olympic games were held in 776 B.C. — built a temple to honor the god Zeus. Many considered the Doric-style temple too simple, so a lavish 40-foot statue of Zeus was commissioned for the inside. Wealthy Greeks decided to move the statue to a palace in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey).
Their effort prolonged its life, as fire later devastated the Olympia temple. However, the new location couldn’t keep Zeus eternally safe: a severe fire destroyed the statue in A.D. 462. All that remains in Olympia are the temple’s fallen columns and the foundation of the building. It is peculiar that the amazing creations of man cannot last forever; the same idea can be observed by comparing the setting, plot and irony in the poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias.”
By examining the setting of both poems, one can perceive the idea that man-made inventions cannot last forever. The setting of “The Ruin” is in an old Roman city, where “the wielders & wrights” once built a huge city intending it to last forever, but now all that remains are “Broken blocks…” (41).
People of the Roman city thought that their mighty kingdom, well built walls, bright buildings, and mead halls would last forever, but there is a force called “wierds” that does not allows man’s creations to exist forever. In the same manner, the setting of “Ozymandias” is also related to the theme that man’s creations cannot last forever. The setting concerns an ancient Egyptian desert, where Ozymandias once created his huge statue (artifact) thinking that it would last forever. However, the only object that remains consists of “Two vast and trunk less legs of stone” (2).
The Essay on Gilgamesh And Aeneas Walls City Temple
Bricks and Mortar And so they traveled until they reached Uruk. There Gilgamesh the king said to the boatman: "Study the brickwork, study the fortification; climb the great ancient staircase to the terrace; study how it is made; from the terrace see the planted and fallow fields, the ponds and orchards. One league is the inner city, another league is orchards; still another the fields beyond; over ...
Ozymandias created his huge statue to show the world how much power he had, without understanding the destructive power of time nature. Even the most powerful kingdoms and the best-built cities fall, suggesting the idea that nothing man-made can withstand the forces of nature.
Both poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias” have similar plots that portray the theme that nothing man-made can last forever. The plot in “The Ruin” involves the conflict between the “man of wit” (22), the Protagonist, and wierds, the Antagonist, who are acting upon the city to bring it down. The plot here portrays that even the men who built these powerful iron cities are dead, and earth grip holds them. Similarly, in the poem “Ozymandias” the plot involves the conflict between the Ozymandias and time. Ozymandias is struggling to keep his mighty kingdom from disappearing due to nature’s invincible powers. Ozymandias tells the world to look at his creations and kingdom and marvel at how much power he possessed. All the power that he experienced is gone due to the power of time, and now the only object that remains from his kingdom is the ruined statue in the desert wasteland, with its arrogant, passionate face and monomaniacal inscription: “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” (11).
By analyzing the plot of the both poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias” one can comprehend the idea that man’s creations cannot last forever.
The irony in the poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias” also expresses the theme to be that mankind’s accomplishments cannot overcome nature’s overwhelming power. The irony in “The Ruin” refers to the differences between the expectations of the Roman rulers and what actually happens. The Roman rulers thought that their structures would last forever, but wierds destroyed every thing. Correspondingly, in “Ozymandias” Ozymandias thinks that his statue, kingdom, and power will stand forever. Ozymandias also thought that he was the king of kings and nobody could take this honor from him. The once-great king’s proud boast has been ironically disproved; Ozymandia’s works have crumbled and disappeared; his civilization is gone; and, all has been turned to dust by the impersonal, indiscriminate, destructive power of history. The ruined statue is now merely a monument to one man’s hubris and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the passage of time. Although he was the greatest king of his time and had the best empire, all that remains is a “colossal wreck” (13).
The Essay on Black Man Poem Humanity Issue
"The Early Purges? by Seamus Heaney is about how we lose innocence. It is ambiguous and ironic. The poem recalls a particular incident of when young Heaney, as a boy, witnessed the farmhand killing kittens, and how the poet became used to this in time. Now, he writes, he has a similar indifference to the death of animals when, in fact, the young Heaney's reaction is the one the poet really ...
By comparing the irony of the both poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias,” the reader can conclude the theme to be that even the greatest and strongest kingdom cannot persist forever.
It is strange that the wonderful creations of man cannot last forever, but the nature’s invincible powers last permanently. This idea is expressed in two poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias” by comparing the use of plot, setting and irony. The idea in the poems states that man-made artifacts can never last forever, even though the greatest kings and rulers cannot maintain their amazing creations. The twin towers were once considered as the most powerful and tallest building in the world, but great tragedy changed it all, and all that remains is the ruins of an amazing creation.
