I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast [and]1 trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive (stamped on these lifeless things,) The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "[My name is]2 Ozimandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing besides remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Volume 2, London, George Bell & Sons, 1892, page 294.
1 omitted by Manno.2 Manno: "I am"
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), title 1: "Ozymandias", title 2: "Sonnet", first published 1818 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Walter Aschaffenburg (b. 1927), "Ozymandias" [ voice, orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Bales (b. 1915), "Ozymandias", 1941, published 1953 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Ozymandias", 1921, published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Shelley, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Melinda Bargreen , "Ozymandias ", 2017 [ tenor or baritone and piano ], from In Fields Where Roses Fade, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ronald A. Beckett , "Ozymandias", 2008 [ voice and piano ], from Four Romantic Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Lykes Booth , "Ozymandias", published 1953 [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Francis Brown (b. 1969), "Ozymandias", 2012, first performed 2012 [ soprano and piano ], Music Haven [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joe Evan Burt , "Ozymandias", 1969 [ voice and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Ozymandias", published 1967, from Two Shelley Songs for SATB a cappella, no. 2, SATB a cappella [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edward Elgar, Sir (1857 - 1934), "Ozymandias", 1917 [ voice and piano ], incomplete [sung text not yet checked]
- by William R. Fischer , "Ozymandias", published 1967 [ three-part women's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harvey Bartlett Gaul (1881 - 1945), "Ozymandias, king of kings", published 1935 [ men's chorus and piano four-hands ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by M. van Sommeren Godfery , "Ozymandias", published 1957 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gertrude E. Grossmann , "Ozymandias", published 1908 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Wilfred Josephs (b. 1927), "Ozymandias", op. 62 (c1970) [ satb chorus, children's chorus, double chorus, and orchestra ], from Mortales, mvt 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Manno (b. 1944), "Ozymandias" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by David Mills (b. 1939), "Ozymandias" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Laurence Powell (1899 - 1990), "Ozymandias", op. 21 no. 3, published 1924 [ satb chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Reginald Chauncey Robbins (1871 - 1955), "Ozymandias", published 1928 [ bass or baritone, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexander Lang Steinert (1900 - 1982), "Ozymandias", published 1932, from Three Poems by Shelley, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bryceson Treharne (1879 - 1948), "Ozymandias", published 1917 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by E. von Griesbach , "Ozymandias" ; composed by Max Wiedmann.
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- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) , "Озимандия", first published 1896 ; composed by Fyodor Stepanovich Akimenko, Vladimir Evgenevich Byutsov, Leonid Leonidovich Lisovsky, Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky, Aleksandr Afanasievich Spendiarov.
- Also set in Ukrainian (Українська), a translation by G. Grinevich (1900 - ?) ; composed by Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Ozymandias"
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Größe", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Árpád Tóth) , "Ozymandiás"
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ozymandias", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POL Polish (Polski) (Adam Asnyk) , "Ozymandyas"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 111
Ein Mann, zurück aus längst vergeßnem Land, Erzählt: Zwei Riesenbeine, Stein, des Leibs beraubt, Stehn in der Wüste. Nah dabei im Sand, Zerschmettert, halb versunken, liegt ein Haupt. Auf krause Lippen ist ein Stolz gebannt, Ein höhnisch kaltes Lächeln; wer es sieht, Weiß, wer einst herrschte über dies Gebiet Mit kaltem Herzen und mit harter Hand. Und auf dem Sockel liest man eingebrannt: „Ich bin Ormandis, aller Fürsten Fürst. Schaut, was ich schuf, ihr Großen, und verzweifelt!“ Nichts blieb als dies. Vom Himmelsrund umspannt, Streckt sich die Wüste hin, endlos und leer, Und nur der Sand streicht um die Trümmer her.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten Übersetzt von Richard Flatter, Walter Krieg Verlag, Wien-Bad Bocklet-Zürich, 1954, 2nd edition (1st edition 1936), page 156.
Text Authorship:
- by Richard Flatter (1891 - 1960), "Größe", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), title 1: "Ozymandias", title 2: "Sonnet", first published 1818
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Volkmar Henschel
This text was added to the website: 2021-02-25
Line count: 14
Word count: 101