The past tense of “met,” in line 1 puts the poem even further in the past, suggesting the speaker’s correspondence with the traveler occurred long ago. By describing what isn’t present rather than what is, the grotesque image invokes tragedy without details of cause, appealing to Burke’s idea of innate curiosity for tragedy (Burke 120). “Trunkless” in Line 2, means “without a body, or severed from the body, as a head” (trunkless, a). The reader yearns for circumstance of the fall of this “King of Kings” but never gets details. “Vast,” in Line 2, means “unusually large or comprehensive in grasp,” suggesting the tragic tale of Ozymandias is difficult to understand (vast, 3). The curiosity required to decipher the true cause of Ozymandias’ fall sustains tragic entertainment. This makes the traveller’s memory susceptible to be washed of truth just as the statue had been weathered by time. The traveller’s tale is further discredited in line 1, as he’s labelled “antique,” meaning “belonging to former times, ancient, olden” (antique, 1). The use of “…” in line 3 further suggests details were omitted from the traveller’s tale, appealing to the tragedy’s mystique (Shelley). This definition suggests the traveller’s tale in “Ozymandias” may be false. This hearkens back to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – a “traveller’s tale” is “a story about a person’s travels … typically regarded as exaggerated or untrue” (traveller’s tale, n). It also discredits the traveler’s story and leaves room for interpretation, making the readers’ minds “erect with expectation” (Burke 120).Īccording to OED, “Traveller” means one who “tells exaggerated, untrue, or misleading stories” (traveller, c). It keeps the reader at a distance – fulfilling Burke’s requirement that “he should be removed himself to the greatest distance from the danger” (Burke 120). The layers through which the reader experiences Ozymandias’s tragedy functions as a buffer. Shelley appeals to this tragic curiosity in the nested and fragmented story of Ozymandias: the speaker meets the traveller, who has seen tragedy through remains of the sculpture – not the actual Ozymandias. As Burke proposes in Section XV, appeal to tragedy arises from an urge to find the cause – “from our not distinguishing between what is indeed a necessary condition to our doing or suffering anything in general, and what is the cause of some particular act” (Burke 120). In lines 1-3 of “Ozymandias,” Shelley employs multifaceted language and intentional concealing of facts to appeal to the reader’s sense of curiosity with regards to tragedy.
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