Who wrote the sonnet "Ozymandias"?

• A. John Keats
• B. Percy Bysshe Shelley
• C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• D. Lord Byron

Answer: (B)

This item tests your knowledge of who authored a famous Romantic-era sonnet. The author is Percy Bysshe Shelley. He wrote “Ozymandias” in 1818, telling of a traveler who describes a ruined statue in the desert and the inscription on its pedestal: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” The striking contrast between the king’s boast and the ruined grandeur emphasizes how power and achievements fade over time, a theme Shelley often explored. The poem’s compact 14-line form and the traveler’s voice fit Shelley's lyrical, ironic style. The other poets listed—Keats, Coleridge, and Byron—are all key Romantic figures, but this particular sonnet is attributed to Shelley, not to them.