This poem also has lots of irony. One thing I noticed after only reading through the poem once was the irony of the words on the sculpture's pedestal. It read "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" The ironic part is that Ozymandias did not touch one stone, use one tool, or help at all with the sculpture, but yet the pedestal said, "Look on MY works." Also, the next line reads, "Nothing beside remains." Despite his boastfulness, the Egyptian tyrant's kingdom no longer exists. The speaker is purposefully trying to distance himself from the situation and time period. That is why he said that the "traveller from an antique land who said:" Antique means old, so the speaker is not from the same time period. I think that the author is critizing tyrants in this poem and saying that they are not really immortal, and their works and monuments will not last forever.
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