Ozymandias

• Form

  Sonnet (love poem expressing awe and love for nature)
• Rhythm

  Iambic Pentameter
• ‘lone and level’ (alliteration)monotonous, demonstrates vast power of desert, contrasting + belittling the limited power of man, no sign of his legacy
• “king of kings”(repetition) , “cold commands”

  • consonance
  • harsh sound reflects callous lack of compassion the king had for his subjects
  • suggests a use of power for military aims
  • Ramases II remembered for military expansion in England
• “the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed”

  • can be seen as an allegory
  • ozymandias is a representation of King George III
• “shattered visage”


  irony, forgotten
• symbolism

  • Ozymandias has no legacy despite his orders to ”look on my works”, which no longer exist
  • contextual irony - ramases helped to expand power and influence of Egypt, now it is a featureless desert
• “half sunk” “shattered” “wrinkled” “frown”


  semantic field of personifying the statue
• Ozymandias

  • polysyllabic title
  • greek name for Ramases II
  • simple and sharp word narrows down to one entity
  • detached narrative and sounds exotic to contemporary audience
• the figurative “sands of time” have covered over Ozymandias' memory

  • nature vs. man
• Ramases II


  statue discovered at time of shelley's writing
• King George III

  • written during his reign
  • tyrant, engaged in many military conflicts
• Shelley

  • a pacifist
  • positioned himself against George's military exploits
• Romanticism

  • Philosophical idea from the late 1700-1800s
  • Takes inspiration from nature
• Contemporary analysis

  • entropy - all things are moving towards inevitable death
• Rhyme

  regular ABAB - like the steps of a ”traveller”