I'm melting!

Tonight I was assigned to read "Ozymandias", an astounding little piece by Percy Shelley. The first time through, it was a bit choppy and difficult to read... and the question came to mind: "What the hell is a visage?" By the way... I'm pronouncing it v-is-aaaaa-age (I accentuated the 'a' a little), with a semi-British accent. Well, after consulting my handy-dandy dictionary, it turns out that visage means: the face, or the appearance. That makes line four soooo much more poetic (no sarcasm folks).

When I read it the second time through, however, it flowed much more easily and it became more meaningful/ poetic.

In addition to reading this poem, my class was also assigned to write a thematic statement. Mine is as follows:

"Percy Shelley's 'Ozymandias' is a poems that describes a lost civilization, buried beneath the deserts of Egypt."

To my displeasure, my teacher has forbidden the class to research this poem... so my interpretation is probably not even close to correct. I swear, I will go into class tomorrow, and find that the poem is really about magical, flying lizards. And after everyone hears my completely incorrect thematic statement, the professor will say to me, "You numb-nut, how did you not pick up on the symbolism for the flying lizards!" ... and then I will feel completely embarrassed and wish that I could melt into the floor tiles. Tomorrow's going to be fun!