Two contrasting images might be the broken sculpture and the sand. One is man-made and in ruins; the second is natural and enduring. The irony of the poem is primarily found in the last lines, with the saying on the pedestal reading, "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" And the following line, which reads "nothing beside remains."
The poem is based on the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II who did commission the building of many great works of architecture. However, in the war between man and nature, man and his works are ephemeral; nature continues on. The irony of the poem is that nothing of the pharaoh's works remain. And the pharaoh's words are only empty boasts. Even the sculptor's works are in ruins. The statue itself consists only of a "a shattered visage," and "trunkless legs of stone." Ozymandius, his works, his image all are conquered by "the lone and level sands."
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