ozymandias

• Written by Shelly in a collection in 1819, it was inspired by the recent unearthing of

  part of a large statue of the Egyptian Pharoah, Ramesses II. The Egyptian Pharaohs like

  Ramesses believed themselves to be gods in mortal form and that their legacy would

  last forever. The reference to the stone statue is likely a direct reference to the

  statues and sculptures like the one which was unearthed, which the ancient Egyptians

  made.
• On the base of the statue is written (translated) "King of Kings am I, Osymandias. If

  anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works."
• Looking at power and conflict we can imagine Ozymandias as a powerful ruler who sees himself as a ‘king of kings’, perhaps a

  great warrior and one of the most powerful men in the world.

  The poem is almost being ironic, pointing out that now all that remains is an arrogant boast on a ruined statue. Perhaps the

  poet feels sorry for him or is laughing at his expense. Either way it looks about the inevitable downfall of all rulers and tyrants,

  and how nothing, not even power, lasts forever.
• The statue in the poem, broken and falling apart in the desert with nobody to care is an allegory of Ozymandias and of every

  powerful man or woman, the idea that they will also drift away until they are just another grain of sand.
• Written in a sonnet with loose iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is pairs (iams, of sounds da-dum)

  with 5 (pentameter, think of pent like in pentagon) in a line making 10 syllables overall.

  Sonnets were generally popular romantic or love poems, perhaps this being a love poem about Ozymandias, a joke about the

  rulers ego. Or simply to capture the romantic and exotic tone of a lost legend.

  The Rhyme scheme is irregular, perhaps symbolic of the broken statue itself, no longer perfect.
• -Power, like the statue is lost to the sands which in turn rep-

  resent time
• -The statue is an allegory for the eventual end of power that

  everyone must suffer, especially the proud
• -The poem is a ironic memorial to the ego of a ancient Phar-

  aoh
• narrator meets a traveller who tells him about a statue standing in the middle of the desert

  its a statue of a king who ruled over a past civilisation. his face is proud and he arrogantly boasts about how powerful he is in an inscription on the statues base

  however the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain
• Key quote 1: "whose frown,

  And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command"
• key quote 1 uses pejoratives such as "frown", "wrinkled", "sneer" and "cold" which makes him seem hostile
• key quote 1- shelly uses lexical choice of "cold" which makes him seem callous and emphasises how he lacks empathy and has no warmth to his personality
• key quote 1- the guttural alliteration on "cold commands" sounds like someone is choking which could mean that he suffocated people under his reign and abused his control and power
• key quote 1- "sneer" indicates how he was not an admirable king, instead a tyrannical one as he enjoyed mocking people instead of being compassionate and a good leader.
• key quote 1- lexical choice of "command" presents him as megalomanic as the verb symbolises his sense of authority and how he is similar to a dictator as he believes everyone should follow his instructions and how he is obsessed with power
• key quote 1- repetition of "and" is a polysyndeton and conveys the ongoing nature of the abuse of power, and how his abusive ruling have had a prolonged negative effect on his people
• key quote 1- caesura in "wrinkled lip, and sneer" slows the pace of the line down to represent how long people had to endure suffering
• link ozymandias to "my last duchess" "the prelude" "exposure" and "storm on the island"- link all to themes of power of humans, power of nature, pride and life represented in art
• key quote 2- "my name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

  Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!"
• key quote 2- shelly repeats the possessive pronoun "my" which makes us think he is selfish and greedy
• key quote2- he speaks in the 3rd person and declares his name to be "Ozymandias" with makes him appear narcissistic and arrogant as he believes his name holds power and value
• Key quote 2- uses the imperative "look" and he wants people to see the empire he has built and feel inferior
• Key quote 2- written in the present tense ("is") which makes us realise that he is that arrogant and believes his power is going to last forever
• key quote 2- uses an exclamatory at the end which emphasises the writers need to make an aggressive image of this person to highlight that he was frightening to his people.
• key quote 2- the person has presented himself as the "king of kings", the repetition is to give himself an elevated statues and also is a biblical reference of Jesus showing how he longs for a god like status
• key quote 2- Shelly uses irony to emphasise how superficial power is as Ozymandias tells others to "despair" because of the size and grandeur of his works, but in fact they should despair because their power is temporary and unimportant, like his"
• key quote 3- "of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

  The lone and level sands stretch faraway."
• key quote 3- "colossal wreck" is an oxymoron as "colossal" refers to something huge whereas "wreck" refers to something being destroyed, when paired together emphasises howpowerflul he was yet how quickly nature took away his power by diminishing his statue.
• key quote 3- Shelly uses alliteration to create an echoing sound of "lone and level" which conveys that the desert is empty and no one looked after his statue because he abused his power. This is mirrored by the structure of the poem being one short stanza, it emphasises how short his power was and how fast nature was able to take it away from him.
• key quote 3- creates a peaceful tone using sibilance of the "sands stretch" to reflect how peaceful the atmosphere is now that he is dead, this also juxtaposes his arrogance and demise of his empire.