Read the analysis of a theme from "Ode on a Grecian Urn." One theme in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is that art is an eternal and unchanging truth. Now, read the passage from "Ozymandias," another poem from the Romantic period. And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. While the theme of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" focuses on how art is eternal, the theme of "Ozymandias" focuses on how
Ozymandias boasts that his power and achievements will last, but the poem shows only a ruined statue remains, surrounded by empty sand. This contrast suggests that human power and the things people build do not last: things change. The correct choice is “things change”; the passage is not mainly about lonely deserts or the superiority of royalty.
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