Power and Conflict: Ozymandias

• "Two vast trunkless legs of stone"

  • third hand information - omniscient
  • the size of the statue undoubtedly makes us wonder about the greatness and power of the ruler
  • both fear and pity in the reader's heart
  • yet they also take pity on the decaying depiction of the statue
• "Half sunk a shattered visage lies"

  • sibilance is mimicking the sound of time moving
  • however sand could never possibly run out
  • the image of "shattered visage lies" creates a sense of irony: a king who believed so strongly in his own power and superiority, and who tried so hard to present this image of greatness through his statue, has now been forgotten and destroyed by time other than the visage had been intended to shows he was unforgettable
• "I met a traveler from an antique land"

  • second-hand information
  • creates a distance
  • thirst for power dates back to ancient history
  • not a modern traveler
• "and wrinkled lip sneer of cold command"

  • rulers rule with no sympathy
  • military leader
  • imagery
  • gives us the image of a literal sneer
  • Ozymandias power was already aging?
  • occurred with Napoleon in 1810
  • he may have felt the most powerful, Shelley points that his power is slipping away
  • polysyndeton
  • wrinkles are associated with age
  • listing his arrogant features
  • alliteration emphasises the rulers lack of empathy
• "The hand that mocked them, the heart that fed;"

  • reference to the literal Ozymandias
  • ambiguous
  • art is more powerful than political power which is seen in My Last Duchess
  • irony
  • the heart never fed any emotions
  • he denies everything
  • "cold" hearted
  • could've described the sculptor that survived Ozymandias
  • Ozymandias is oblivious to this
  • the hand of the sculptor could be mocking Ozymandias
  • society was vulnerable and was never physically fed