Compare how the writers present the man's attempt to usurp nature's
power in Ozymandias and the Prelude.
Shelley presents ideas of man's attempt to usurp nature's power as
futile. Nature is infinite and man cannot overpower it. Whereas, in 'The
Prelude', Wordsworth portrays man's attempt to overpower nature as a
frightening and foolish endeavour.
Although both poets present nature as the ultimate power, in ‘The
Prelude’, Wordsworth presents nature’s power as terrifying, whereas, in
‘Ozymandias’, Shelley presents power of nature as destructive. After
telling us the story of Ramesses II, the narrator says ‘Nothing besides
remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare’.
The plosive used here proclaims how powerful nature is, it is harsh and
blunt. The noun ‘decay’ illustrates how nature slowly hacked away at its
surrounding and undermined Ramesses II one step at a time, becoming
his downfall. "The lone and level sands" shows that the kingdom
Ozymandias was once proud of has now been deserted and turned to
rubble by nature. Furthermore, the poem is written as a sonnet, which is
usually used for love poems. This emphasises Shelley’s awe for nature,
as he was a Romantic poet, who believed that nature was powerful than
mankind and that people should respect it, instead of destroying it, which
happened during the Industrial Revolution.
On the other hand, in ‘The Prelude’, Wordsworth describes his
encounter with the power of nature as petrifying, rather than destructive.
When faced with nature, Wordsworth ‘struck and struck again’. The use
of repetition shows how desperate Wordsworth was and his fear.
Suddenly, the speaker was no longer enjoying a peaceful encounter with
nature. Now, there was something to fear greatly. He turned his boat
around, and made his way back “with trembling oars”. The opening lines
paint a picture of the speaker as one with nature, experiencing great joy
in the peaceful waters, however, now he is scared.
In Ozymandias, Shelley talks about Ramesses II whose decayed
remains of statue is the lone survivor of the trials of nature.
