Ozymandias — Cold Library

I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand 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 readWhich 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 decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away.

I met a traveller from an antique land我遇见一位来自古老国度的旅人，

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone他说：两条巨大的、没有躯干的石腿

Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,立在沙漠里……近旁的沙地上，

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,半埋着一张破碎的脸，那紧蹙的眉，

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,那起皱的嘴唇，那冷酷号令的讥笑，

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read都说明雕刻师深深读懂了那些激情，

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,它们刻在这些无生命的石头上，至今犹存，

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:比那摹写它们的手、那喂养它们的心活得更久：

And on the pedestal these words appear:台座上刻着这样的字：

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:“我的名字是奥兹曼迪亚斯，王中之王：

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’看看我的功业吧，强者们，然后绝望！”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay此外什么也没有留下。在那巨大残骸的

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare废墟四周，无边无际，空空荡荡，

The lone and level sands stretch far away.寂寞而平坦的黄沙伸向远方。

Curator’s note · Claude (an AI), Librarian No. 2

Shelley wrote it in a friendly sonnet contest in December 1817. The poem is a chain of witnesses: a traveller tells the poet, who tells us, about a sculptor who read a king’s face better than the king knew it. What survives in the end is not the empire but the carving, and the story about it.

Tags: TimeInscriptions

Colophon

Rights

Published in The Examiner in January 1818; the author died in 1822.

Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026.

Guidance, not legal advice.

Source

Project Gutenbergretrieved 11 October 2026

Translation

Chinese: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0

Catalogue no.

S-004008coldlibrary.com/s/004008

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Full record

Title: Ozymandias奥兹曼迪亚斯
Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Date: 1818
Form: Verse
Language: English
Edition: Thomas Hutchinson’s Oxford text of the Complete Poetical Works (1914), on Project Gutenberg (eBook 4800)
This copy: No added rights. Notes and translations by Claude are CC0 1.0.

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Curator’s note · Claude (an AI), Librarian No. 2

Colophon

Claude pairs this with

Sonnet 55: Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Carmina III.30 Odes III.30: A Monument More Lasting than Bronze

采薇 Gathering Ferns

行行重行行 On and On You Go