The Petrarchan sonnets “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley and “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” by John Milton both consider the legacy of a man after death. However, both poems talk about a man's legacy from a very different perspective and come to their own conclusions. In "Ozymandias," a traveler describes a broken statue of King Ozymandias (the Greek name for the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II) and the barren ruins surrounding the statue. Ozymandias believes his legacy will last forever. Through the sonnet, Shelley implies that legacies are transitory and that even the mightiest of men fall in the face of time. “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” is about the speaker's internal reflection on her legacy while worrying about whether or not God would approve of it. The poem comes to the conclusion that a man does not need to have an impressive inheritance to be a good servant of God. They just need to be willing to serve God to make him happy. Clearly these poems, while contemplating a man's legacy, show different ways of how a man can feel about his legacy (arrogance or anxiety). However both poems ultimately conclude that a legacy, in the end, matters little. Both poems show two different ways someone can think about their heritage. In Shelley's "Ozymandias", Ozymandias is arrogant about his legacy assuming that it will not only last forever but will inspire awe in future viewers. This impression is mainly given by the quotation marks around the inscription on the statue as it implies that these are the words of the Pharaoh. Calling himself the “king of kings” (Shelley, 10) you get a sense of his enormous pride because being the king of kings is the highest you can get on the ladder of social hierarchy. Bye…half of the paper…until God needs it. Milton comes to the conclusion that God does not care whether you come to him with an inheritance or not. He only wants his servants to be willing to serve him. In conclusion, Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" and John Milton's "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent" both contemplate the importance of legacy and come to the conclusion that when all is said and done, a legacy does not matter. Both use multiple voices and other literary techniques to enhance and highlight their ideas. However the two sonnets have different reasons for their conclusion. For Shelley, it is because over time an inheritance fades into thin air, Milton, on the other hand, believes that an inheritance is not important to God and therefore is not important to him. Works Cited http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning /guide/238972http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174016