Ozymandias

"'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

This poem describes a traveller telling the speaker of the ruins of a statue he saw in the desert of his native country.  The situational irony in the poem is very simple.  The king, Ozymandias, thought himself to be an amazing leader.  His statue even read: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"  It is ironic that his statue says this because there is barely anything left of the statue.  The legs are the only thing standing and the head is off to the side, half sunk in the muck.  Throughout his life, Ozymandias treated others badly and was very self-centered.  Now, many years later, the statue that was built to identify Ozymandias and his ego is almost completely gone, buried in the desert along with his memory.