Ian - Section 1A
From lecture notes:
- poem describes encounter with statue, inspired by statue of Ramses II
- promotes dichotomy of Orientalism by suggesting that at the end of the day, Orientals are just dust; the English will be the ones depicting and therefore controlling
My understanding of the poem (influenced by lecture):
- the emphasis on the pharoah’s passions, combined with the wrecked state of the statue (“trunkless legs,” “shattered visage”), exacerbates the negative quality of Oriental characteristics
-the description of the statue in the poem along with the phrase “an antique land” in the first line implies that, through the dichotomous opposition, the English are modern and poised to dominate the modern period; the period of Egyptian/Oriental power has passed; while the pharaoh once held power over many, his legacy now lies in a damaged statue alone in the desert (in addition, according to Egyptian belief, certain statues could serve as repositories for the soul in the afterlife)
-the line inscribed on the statue (“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”) loses all of its threatening quality with the statue lying in ruin; at the same time, the fact that the inscribed line is transmitted through Shelley’s voice elevates the status and importance of poets and their own “Works”
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