Seth Tucker

Seth Tucker (stucker@mailer.fsu.edu) writes: Currently I am enrolled at Florida State University as a Doctoral student of

English with a focus in Creative Writing (both Fiction and Poetry). I spent

four years in the military as a paratrooper, recieved a MA from Northern

Arizona University in 1998, and am originally from Wyoming.

Discussion.

The whole tale of the king's

loss of power is symbolic, but

within the tale,

the most striking symbol

is the broken statue with

its boastful inscription. The vision

of the statue comes to

mind when anyone says

"Ozymandias."

The full story of the king

tends to come as an afterthought. Answer.

While it appears that women

are at the center, they seem

less than real. We have

idealized portraits, removed

and abstract. The queen

because she is firmly in the grave, the king

because he is classical perfection, set

high above impossible human qualities.Question.

What two different figures stand for death? And

what of the symbolism here?

All three levels

of meaning seem

unsavory enough. On

a literal level, the king vainly

clings to a slender

scrap of wood in the middle of a wide,

sucking ocean.

Seth Tucker