Ozymandias

• "Colossal Wreck"

  • oxymoron
  • colossal = shows scale of destruction
  • wreck = human achievements are insignificant
• "Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!"

  • look = ironic as nothing is left
  • works = celebrates the sculptor, not leader
  • despair = shame?
• "And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command"

  • wrinkled = suggests Ramasses II was already fading, teaches people that you shouldn't latch onto power
  • sneer = no interest or sympathy to people
  • cold command = consonance, reflects lack of compassion
• "I met a traveller from an antique land"

  • met = distances speaker from the statue and what it represents
  • antique land = long-forgotten
• "The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed"

  • hand = the sculptor, who was capable of highlighting Ozymandas' true qualities
  • heart that fed = sculptor that gave the truth and allowed it to be spread(to the traveller)