The diction lends itself powerfully to a nihilistic interpretation with words of negation such as 'nothing', 'decay', 'bare' and 'lone'. ( Nihilism is a philosophy that rejects all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless). Lines 12-14, conclude the vision, expressing the primary nihilistic philosophy of political power. The lone and level sands stretch far away.” Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,Īnd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone The relation of the pharaoh to the sun deity 'Ra' also lends a religious purpose to the construction of such buildings, in particular the mausoleums that were used to house the deceased pharaoh's body. To display their prestige as well as successful rulership such monuments were common, and a sign of success. Much of this occurred during the later part of his rule which was marked by economic prosperity and political stability.Ību Simbel World Heritage Site (from UNESCO)Įngineering such monuments requires a great deal of wealth and manpower. However after his reign he is most remembered due to his extensive construction programs that resulted in the Hypostyle Hall in Karnak, a funerary temple in Luxor, and Temples with colossal statues of Kings at Abu Simbel. Population Movement in the Middle-Eastern Region circa 1200 B.C. He was famed as a soldier and lead many military victories most against the opposing Hittite Empire, as well as against other smaller nations such as the Moabs, Negeb and Edom. Ramses II ruled over the 19th Egyptian Dynasty, and his reign from (1279-1213 BCE) made him the second longest ruling pharaoh in Egyptian history. Ozymandias the titular pharaoh of the poem is named Ramses II today. Seeing the ills of the Industrial Revolution, the Romanticists looked back to the past as a more idyll time, where such stark inequalities were not so apparent and were mankind was more in touch with nature, and spirituality. Romanticism took place against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), which was characterised by increasing travel, increasing pollution and sharp social shifts, as well as a dramatic increase in poverty as many people lost their jobs to machines. They rejected the principles of order, harmony, calm and balance of a rational society, and instead focused on the individual, subjective, irrational, imaginative, emotional and transcendental thought (adapted from Encyclopaedia Britannica). (roughly 1790-1850) Formed as a reaction against the rationalism and physical materialism of the 19th Century.
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