Both the poems, ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments’ focus on the ravages of Time. In ‘Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments’, Shakespeare mocks at the marble and gilded monuments, memorials and statues built by the princes, rulers and the rich. They raise these memorials to show their power, authority, wealth and grandeur. They want to perpetuate their memory for the posterity. It is a vain attempt to become immortal or to keep their memory alive in the minds and hearts of the coming generation. However, the ravages of time and the agents of destruction like wasteful wars and tumults ***, damage and deteriorate such buildings and monuments. Shakespeare wants to highlight that ‘the powerful rhyme’ outlives all such worldly glories and grandeurs.
P.B. Shelley’ ‘Ozymandias’ also highlights that the sickle of time spares none. Once all-powerful ruler, ‘the king of kings’, Ozymandias wanted to overawe the present and future generations by his authority and achievements. He met a tragic and ironical fate. The ravages of time shattered his pride and his statue and face lie broken and ***** in the sand. Such tall claims and show of power, glory and grandeur meet their tragic end with the passage of time. So, both the poets highlight that all worldly power, glory and grandeur meet their destruction and deterioration at the hands of all-powerful time.
