Read the following poem and answer questions
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.
The last lines of the poem, “Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare / The lone and level sands stretch far away”, create a feeling of
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → emptiness, and the passing away of all power
The last lines show the huge broken statue with only flat sand all around it. The great king who boasted of his power has left behind only emptiness.
- Colossal wreck: the very, very large statue, now badly broken.
- Boundless and bare: the sand has no end and is empty.
- Lone and level sands stretch far away: only flat sand as far as one can see. Nothing else is there.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: wonder at the skill of the old sculptor — Incorrect. Wrong part of the passage: the sculptor’s skill comes earlier, where he “well those passions read”. The last lines are only about the ruin and the sand.
Option 3: hope that the king’s works will be rebuilt — Incorrect. Contradicted: the poem says, “Nothing beside remains.” There is no sign of hope in the empty sands.
Option 4: relief that a cruel king is dead — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the lines do not speak of anyone feeling glad. They only show a ruin lost in an empty desert.