Man's Creation Cannot Last Forever
Man's Creation Cannot Last Forever
In about 450 B.C., the city of Olympia -- where the first Olympic games were held in 776 B.C. -- built a temple to honor the god Zeus. Many considered the Doric-style temple too simple, so a lavish 40-foot statue of Zeus was commissioned for the inside. Wealthy Greeks decided to move the statue to a palace in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). Their effort prolonged its life, as fire later devastated the Olympia temple. However, the new location couldn't keep Zeus eternally safe: a severe fire destroyed the statue in A.D. 462. All that remains in Olympia are the temple's fallen columns and the foundation of the building. It is peculiar that the amazing creations of man cannot last forever; the same idea can be observed by comparing the setting, plot and irony in the poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias.”
By examining the setting of both poems, one can perceive the idea that man-made inventions cannot last forever. The setting of “The Ruin” is in an old Roman city, where “the wielders & wrights” once built a huge city intending it to last forever, but now all that remains are “Broken blocks…” (41). People of the Roman city thought that their mighty kingdom, well built walls, bright buildings, and mead halls would last forever, but there is a force called “wierds” that does not allows man’s creations to exist forever. In the same manner, the setting of “Ozymandias” is also related to the theme that man’s creations cannot last forever. The setting concerns an ancient Egyptian desert, where Ozymandias once created his huge statue (artifact) thinking that it would last forever. However, the only object that remains consists of “Two vast and trunk less legs of stone” (2). Ozymandias created his huge statue to show the world how much power he had, without understanding the destructive power of time nature. Even the most powerful kingdoms and the best-built cities fall, suggesting the idea that nothing man-made can withstand the forces of nature.
Both poems “The Ruin” and “Ozymandias” have similar plots that portray the theme that nothing man-made can last forever. The plot in “The Ruin” involves the conflict between the “man of wit” (22), the Protagonist, and wierds, the Antagonist, who are acting upon the city to bring it down. The plot here portrays...