ozymandias

• nothing beside remains

  
  

  power was once there but now its there but has no meaning, loss of power.
• trunkless legs of stone

  imagery shows ozymandias power is one and all that remains is a shell of what used to be there
• "king of kings"

  hyperbole, he is the most powerful
• "sneer of cold commands"

  
  

  heartless, careless, abuse of power, he's a ruler and a dictactor, has ultimate authourity
• intention:


  shelly could be critisizing disctatorships and showing how they always eventually collapse and that they should not exist as forms of government. doesn't believe anyone is more deserving than anyone else.
• language

  -symbolism of fragility of power/life

  -3 voices in the poem give different perspectives

  -irony: power indestructibly faded
• structure

  -sonnet of 14 lines

  -sonnets are usually love poems, in this case self-love from ozymandias

  -the rhyme scheme is transitory, and so is power, it changes over time.
• "the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed"

  abusive, using them and playing with them. he gains power from hurting people, presented as a sadist
• "boundless and bare"

  power doens't last forever, over time you will always be forgotton
• emphasises his lack of importantce in the long term, as nothing is permanent.
• "king of kings"

  "cold commands"

  aliterative k sound creates an agressive, harsh tone, this emphasises ozymandias' cruelty and agression