Legacies in Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and When I...

The Petrarchan sonnets â€Å"Ozymandias† by Percy Bysshe Shelley and â€Å"When I Consider How My Light Is Spent† by John Milton both consider a man’s legacy after death. However, both poems talk about a man’s legacy from very different perspective and come to their own conclusions. In â€Å"Ozymandias†, a traveler describes a broken statue of King Ozymandias (the Greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II) and the barren ruins surrounding the statue. Ozymandias believes that his legacy will last forever. Through the sonnet, Shelley implies that legacies are transient and even the most powerful of men fall in the face of time. â€Å"When I Consider How My Light Is Spent† is about the internal reflection of the speaker on his legacy as he worries whether or†¦show more content†¦This is greatly contrasted by the speaker in Milton’s â€Å"When I Consider How My Light Is Spent†. It is first important to mention that the author of this poem, John Milton, suffered from glaucoma and eventually went blind. Due to this information, it can be implied that Milton’s gradual loss of sight was a source of inspiration for this sonnet and that Milton is the speaker of the poem. Therefore the word â€Å"light† (Milton, 1) can metaphorically take on multiple meanings such as his talent (as it is the light that he brings to the world) or his vision (as one goes blind the world becomes increasingly darker and the ability to see light decreases). Milton losing his vision would be an impediment to his talent (which is his writing) so when he worries that he has spent his â€Å"light† (Milton, 1) unwisely it essentially means that he fears that he has wasted his talent. While King Ozymandias’ legacy comes from how effectively he ruled his kingdom, Milton’s legacy comes from his talent of writing. Although Milton wants to continue his legacy he fears that through blindness that his t alent will become â€Å"useless† (Milton, 4). The anxiety that Milton has is enhanced by the allusion to â€Å"The Parable of Talents† from Matthew 25 in the Bible. In â€Å"The Parable of Talents†, a lord gives three of his servants a talent each (talent in this case meaning the ancient currency). The first two servants invest their talents while the