In this episode of Elixir, Helen is talking to Tim Butcher about ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley by Alfred Clint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
Text of the poem:
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand 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 read
Which 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 decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
About the poet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias
About Tim
Tim Butcher - acclaimed journalist and author
Tim Butcher is a full-time non-fiction author with a background as a Daily Telegraph foreign correspondent. British born but based in Cape Town, he blends travel with history, shaping literary accounts of challenging journeys that he undertakes to unravel complex places and issues.
His account of crossing the Congo, `Blood River – A Journey To Africa’s Broken Heart’, was a No 1 international bestseller, translated widely. He then hiked through Sierra Leone and Liberia to write ‘Chasing the Devil – The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit’. Most recently he followed the life journey of the Sarajevo assassin who sparked global war in 1914 for ‘The Trigger – The Hunt for Gavrilo Princip’.
All his books are available in English and a range of foreign languages. Amazon is one option but buying them from your local independent bookshop would make the author especially pleased.
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