The Last Page
Matthew Evans
3/25/14
Citation for the poem:
Smith, Horace. “Ozymandias”. Amarynthus, The Nympholet: A Pastoral Drama, In Three Acts, With Other Poems. New York. Garland Publishing, Inc. 1977. Print.
I chose the poem “Ozymandias” due to its statement about the relics that a civilization leaves behind after its passing. This is explored, in the first part of the poem, through an examination of the monuments of Ozymandias, or Ramesses I. The reader is then asked to ponder the fate of our civilization; the future explorers of our ruined cities view our monuments with awe, or will they fail to make an impression? While the last page will most likely be temporary because of the nature of the medium that it is printed upon, the statement that the poem makes is universal: Although the people and culture of a civilization will probably be destroyed after it has disappeared from the face of the earth, many of our monuments will survive, thereby making any human civilization immortal, in a sense, and provided that there are monuments to be passed down through the ages. Many of the most famous examples monumental architecture throughout the world is influenced by the concept, from the Capitol Building to the Cristo-Redentor. On a more sinister note, Albert Speer (Hitler’s personal architect) even wanted to rebuild the entirety of Berlin so that it would stand testament to the glory of the “1000 Year Reich” for all of eternity. Ideally, the last page would not be written on a temporary medium so that whatever species rises to replace us will know of the mindset of the last representative of our civilization, and the worldview of the civilization as a whole.
