Variations on a theme

Here are various forms of P.B. Shelley's poem Ozymandias. The first is a translation into British Rail stations, by a program known as Jabber.

SAXMUNDHAM

I tame a gravelly frome and canning lane
How sandy: Wood east and knucklas liss of stone
Island inn the severn... Fearn thame, on the sandy,
Hall bank, a hattersley alsager liss, roose troon,
And wainfleet line, and steel of coll commando,
Well thame diss plumpton well roose hassocks road
Whins lye surbiton, staines on chase airbles tring,
The sandy thame morden thame, and the heath thame edge:
And on the helmsdale chase woods appley:
"Ty tame st Saxmundham, king of kings:
Lock luton ty woods, lye Higham, and aspatria!"
Tooting hessle reading. Bound the denby
Of thame colonsay green, brundall and bare
The looe and level sands stretton bar sway.

P.B. Shepley

An alternative version, produced more recently by Virginia Knight's WebJabber, reads as follows.

Alexandria 

I metro a gravelly frome and achanalt lane
Whins sands: tweed vale and bruxelles le of stone
Strand in the chertsey. Dearne the on the sands,
Hall sutton, a hattersley village line, whins frognal
And wharfedale line, and seer of colwyn commando
Belle thatto in scunthorpe well thomas possilpark road
Whins betws sudbury, stamford on the bruxelles worthing,
The havant thatto matlock the, and the heath thatto ferry.
And on the prestatyn the woods appleby:
Main birnam in Alexandria, kings of kings;
Looe on main worksop, y broughty, and airbles!
Worthing burnside ainsdale. Bound the dearne
Of thatto colwall wressle, bekesbourne and bare,
The london and level sands street fearn ardgay.

P. B. Shepley

The next version, a prose poem, was produced by translating the poem into German and back again, using Babelfish. For some reason I am reminded of both John Major and John Prescott.

I met a traveler of a antiken country who said: Two considerably and trunkless legs of the stone location in the wasteland. Close them on the sand, half sunk, lies broken visage, their Stirnrunzeln, and lip and Sneer of the cold instruction explaining you geknitterte that its Sculptorvertiefung, which read those inclinations which you, marked on these liveless things, nevertheless survive which hand, which them mocked and the inside, which drew in.

And on the support these words appear: " my name is Ozymandias, king of the kings: Look on my work, powerful ye and despair! ", nothing beside Remains. All around colossal wreck boundlessly and only lonely and horizontally aligned sand expand the decay of this far away.

Last updated December 7th 2002 by Jonathan Partington

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