Explore the theme of Power in Shelley's 'Ozymandias'

(Introduction)Shelley's 'Ozymandias', adhering to the literary themes typical of the Romantic movement, heavily contrasts the relationship between the timeless power of nature with the futile efforts, boasts and will of mankind. The poem focuses on the self-proclaimed "King of Kings" (a superfluous and often unintentionally hyperbolic title, often reserved in religious language for God) who boasts a great and powerful empire, though actually possesses nothing beyond what barely remains of their bold claim. By showing the reader that the traveller went to a land whose history is older than most civilisation - evident in the pre-modifying adjective "antique" - it becomes self-evident throughout the poem that this empire that was supposed to inspire "despair" was defeated by nothing more than the simple, but always omnipotent, passage of time; and, as suggested by the concluding line, the world simply moved forward, with nature indifferently burying away years of history and civilisation. Indeed, it could be suggested that the survival of the colossal's pedestal, standing next to the last ruins of Ozymandias' civilisation - Ozymandias himself, is nature's calm mockery of humanity's supposed indomitable will.