Re: Strange pseudo-facts
by Asparagus on February 25th, 2018, 10:02 am
"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."
This poem is about a statue of Ramses II, who lived circa 1250 BC. By special archeological magic, we know he is the Egyptian king who reigned during the time period referred to in the biblical Exodus. Like the Trojan war, this is a mangled memory of the destruction and desolation of the Bronze Age Collapse. Plus there really was a Moses.
Anyway, that context makes the poem deepen into a cavern of emotion to me. The late Bronze Age was similar to our time in many ways.