The first poem that I
am going to review today is ‘Ozymandias’
by P.B.Shelly.’ The reason for me to select this is because, I had done a
presentation on it year before last. So I thought it would be interesting and
easy as well to go through it once again. ‘Ozymandias’ is a poem where the unknown
speaker describes a meeting with someone who has travelled to a place where
ancient civilizations once existed. We know from the title that he’s talking
about Egypt. The traveller had told the speaker a story about an old statue which
is in the middle of the desert. The statue is broken apart, but you can still
make out the face of a person. The face looks stern and powerful, like a ruler.
The sculptor had done a good job at expressing the ruler’s personality. The
ruler was a wicked guy, but he took care of his people and it was most probably
a reference made to Ramses II who was a pharaoh of Egypt. On the pedestal near
the face, the traveller reads an inscription in which the ruler Ozymandias
tells anyone who might happen to pass by that he is the king of kings and at
the same time he brags about his work. However there is no other evidence of this
in the surrounding area of his giant, broken statue. All we can see is just a
lot of sand, as far as we can see. The traveller then ends his story there.
When I read this poem two years back, I couldn’t understand it
well. But now I like this poem second best from the seven poems given to us
because though short it tells a lot of things about Egypt and its' ruler. The
form is a sonnet. I agree with Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem with the theme of
having ultimate power, which soon fades away with the kingdom they once rule.
It reminds me of the civil wars about which we used to study of in our history
lesson, e.g. Battle of Changlimithang. Even today, there are such rulers who are
still remembered by the people who have made an impact to the people like Adolf
Hitler. The
poem goes on to suggest that no matter how powerful you may be now, once you
kick the bucket, time will fade away all we've done and all we are. All we are
is dust in the wind. We can understand from here that the poet agrees with how
nature is in control over all, and even though we may not want things to occur
like old age or the end of our reign in a kingdom, it’s going to happen anyway,
because nature will always take over. We can’t take the glory to the grave and
it will soon be outdone by nature. We can see that the poem as a whole
is really short, if we compare it to other poems. On the contrary, I find that
his choice of words a bit complicated and finds it difficult to understand. For
instance, ‘shatter'd
visage, wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command’. I wonder how lips get wrinkled
that too of a statue. Shelley’s lines are contradictory to the poem as a whole.
Some lines seem lengthy while the poem itself is short. I feel in just a line
he is trying to convey so many things, which is probably out of my league. I
don’t like too many compressed ideas in a single line because I am not able to
imagine it altogether. Even when we read it, it is like too many things rushing
at once. Overall, I think the poem is a good epic which documents history.
The
next poem I have selected is called ‘A
dream within a dream,’ by Edgar Allen Poe.’ By reading the title it seems
that there is a dream within a dream. But to me I found the poem bit vague. As
I am not much of a poet myself, I am not sure what the poets’ intention is. By
that I mean to say, I am not able to figure out what the poet is trying to tell
exactly because I am a bit confused as to whether the poet is referring
to a dream in the literal sense or in the metaphorical sense. Either way I
think that a lot of it is comparing life to a dream or the ideal dream that we
hope to find in life and there are things in life that are taken away from us
just as dreams slip from our grip.
An aspect of the poem that I find really powerful is the
rhyme that goes on throughout the entire poem, giving it a rhythmic sound. It
would sound great for a recitation. Some of the lines give out clear imageries
which are easily for us to visualise. I can conclude that the author is trying
to say that reality is in the eye of the beholder and people only see what they
want to see, so everything we experience is in a sense, a dream within a dream.
The last poem for my review is ‘Touched by an Angel,’ by Maya Angelou.’ I liked it best. This poem
is about love. Love is given much importance. I think here love is given a
mysterious image because I am not sure what kind of love we are actually
talking about. Is it the love for your lover, friends or family? So I am just
assuming ‘love’ here can be connoted as to what the reader sees as. For me,
love that is mentioned here would be my two kids because I feel that I am truly
blessed, for having two beautiful angels touch my soul. In fact, I loved this
poem so much because I can relate it to my life. It is true that love gives us
courage, pleasure and above all freedom. The use of diction is so simple and
easy to understand. I can proudly say that this is the kind of style that
appeals to me. Unlike the first two poems, I find this poem very easy to grasp.
I have also read Maya Angelou’s ‘Phenomenal Woman.’ I really loved that poem.
It was fantastic! I had to re-read. After looking at two of her poems, I can
gather that the poets’ style of writing is realistic and simple yet, very
effective. There isn’t much for me to comment on this poem because like I said
it is as easy as it looks, except for figuring out the kind of love that is
intended by the poet.
Looking at all the three poems, I find the idea in each
completely different from one another. However their style of conveying the message
is similar, especially in the first two poems. Both poets have used the device
of imageries and none of those are actually happening. One is a narration that
has already passed and the other is just a dream or something which is going to
happen, if we go in the metaphorical sense. In spite of this, I liked going
through these poems.
By Dorji Dema
By Dorji Dema
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