Ozymandias

• 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  old and outdated and fragile which may suggest that now ozymandias has no remaining power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