Assignment task:
"This last question invites you to think outside the box. In 1818, on the eve of the arrival of a statue of Ramesses II (c. 1330 B.C.E. to 1213) in London, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a sonnet titled Ozymandias. Analyze the poem and reflect on the work of historians and archaeologists. Also, explore the theme of hubris, the fatal flaw of many ancient heroes. Finally, does this poem, which refers to the Ancient civilizations studied in this course, still have some pertinence in the world's current political context?
Ozymandias, (1818).
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and 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 Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. "