Ozymandias

Cards (25)

  • Who wrote Ozymandias?
    Percy Shelley
  • who was ozymandias?
    Ramses 2 was an immensely powerful Egyptian Pharaoh who wanted to build memorials and statues of himself to retain power
  • what is the poem talking about?
    describes how a narrator met a traveller who describes to him the broken statue of ozymandias in the egyptian dessert
  • why was Shelley expelled from Oxford?

    for sharing atheist views
  • What were Shelley's view on power?
    he was a political radical and an anti - authoritarian
  • where were Ozymandias's statues brought to?
    uk
  • Percy Shelley was a free thinker, vegetarian and revolutionary who often found himself at odds with society of his day
  • " i met a traveller from an antique land "
  • " two vast and trunkless legs of stone "
  • " cold command " ?
    consonance exemplifies arrogance
  • what does " antique land " have connotations of ?

    old and outdated and fragile which may suggest that now ozymandias has no remaining power
  • By having the traveller describe the statue to the narrator what does it show?
    it removes the presence of this prestige ruler and that his power has diminished
  • " shattered visage "

    broken faces which suggest no one - not even ozy - had long lasting power
  • " yet survive , stamped on these lifeless things "
  • what does the contrast between " survive " and "lifeless " show?
    reminds the reader that ozymandias is dead and so is his legacy that he tried to retain
  • " pedestal "
    connotation of power and authority
  • " My name is Ozymandias , king of kings: look at my works , ye mighty , and despair !"
  • " king of kings " , " ye mighty "
    religious connotations implies arrogance and that Ozymandias wishes to acquire power such like God
  • " Round the decay of that colossal wreck "
    semantic field of destruction ; Shelley resented political power and bleieveed that power can be overturned and that his legacy will fade
  • " Boundless and bare the lone and level sands "

    alliteration - feeling of vast emptiness in the desert and its size - nature will always exist and survive for longer compared to man made objects
  • how is ozymandias presented?
    with negative connotations - shelley may be showing how authority can corrupt people - perhaps inspired by his own beliefs
  • poems to compare with power
    Hawk roosting
  • poems to compare with nature
    Death of a Naturalist
    Hawk roosting
    The prelude
  • structure
    sonnet form - indicates declaration of love for oneself
  • are there any stanzas?
    no - shelley reduces ozymandias to character in a story showing that political power fades over time