1. The primary description of Ozymandias is of his face as seen in the visage in the sand. He had a wrinkled lip, a sneer, and a frown, making him a formidable figure. This description is in lines 4 and 5, and in the next two lines it is stated that the sculptor has placed these passions in the stone and that they have survived. Ozymandias projected an attitude of command and superiority.
2. The "antique land" would be Egypt, where Ozymandias ruled and where his statue remains in the sand. The traveller describes a ruin seen in the desert and the inscription on that ruin.
3. My name is Ozymandias; I am the greatest of all rulers. Other rulers should look on my works and despair.
1. The situational irony in this poem is that all that remains of the mighty Ozymandias is this broken statue, and that this statue was intended to create fear and now only creates wonder because of its ruined condition. The inscription is a verbal irony, for the words are egotistical but are on a broken statue that no longer makes other rulers fear.
2. The use of the word "lifeless" in line 7 applies not just to the statue because it is of stone but to the ruins because the life they once represented is gone and the fear they once created no longer can be expected, either. It is ironic because a statue is always lifeless, but a ruined statue is even more lifeless, no longer being a fair representation of its subject. "Mocked" refers here to the hand of the sculptor who created these passions in stone.
3. The sculptor read the passions of Ozymandias well and fashioned them into the stone so that they still come through even though the face is ruined and lying in the sand. The word "survive" refers back to the passions seen by the sculptor in the previous line. The passions survive even though Ozymandias does not.
4. Vast emphasizes the size of the legs standing alone in the desert. The visage is the face, or the image of the face, ...