Wichita State English professor and poet Adam Scheffler knows you might not like poetry. But he thinks reading a nearly 200-year-old Shelley sonnet might make you change your mind. He tells us why in today’s Why Should I Read This?
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1818 poem, “Ozymandias” is often considered the greatest sonnet ever written. When I was in graduate school, it handily won a sports bracket of 64 sonnets vying for that position, defeating both John Donne and Shakespeare. And it’s maintained its fame: you can hear Bryan Cranston growl and thunder out its 14 lines to advertise the final season of Breaking Bad. The poem portrays the severed legs and “shattered” head of an ancient despot’s statue, half-sunk into the sand, its pedestal still boasting about his magnificence, in a world-historical self-own. When you’re feeling like the rich and powerful are sliding by unaccountable to all, and preparing their rocket ships for immortality, take two minutes, read this poem, and experience some magnificent schadenfreude: time brings everyone low.
