Quotes Analysis

• My name is ozymandias, king of kings

  repetition of king suggests strength, power and authority. God himself known as 'king of kings' which is metaphorical pedestal of power
• Boundless and Bare

  1. 'b' creates plosive alliteration which makes a hollow sound which underlined the impression of nothingness
  2. creates image of infinite power of nature
  3. creates the sense that he thought his power was limitless
• Colossal Wreck

  1. oxymoron shows that it was once 'colossal' but now it is destroyed
  2. 'wreck' shows the semantic field of destruction and represents the loss of his power
• Look on my words, ye mighty, and despair/ Nothing beside remains

  1. 'Look'- imperative verb suggests that he has pride in his achievements and exposes his arrogance
  2. ye'- elavated threat of his power
  3. Juxtaposition of arrogance and power which is destroyed by nature
  4. 'Nothing beside remains'- over time natural elements worn away the statue which shows that nature is more powerful. This creates irony as ozymandias is arrogant but nature was more powerful
  5. Caesura is a symbol of the decline of his old legacy and passing of time
• Frown/ And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

  1. image of the facial expression suggests arrogance
  2. emotions of anger and disapproval suggests ozymandias was a tyrant
  3. 'cold command'- alliteration of hard 'c' mirrors the meaning of 'cold'
• Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

  1. trunkless' emphasises his fragility
  2. 'stone'- durable material connoting strength which suggests his legacy was dominant
  3. 'stone'- not natural for man to attempt to immortalise their legacy so nature erodes mans hubris
  4. 'stone'- subject to erosion, suggesting that time is more powerful than man