Quotes - Ozymandias

• "King of Kings": Helps the reader to imagine how the king sees himself, reinforcing the notion that he is selfish. Constantly craves power and supremacy and often tries to show off.

  The sharp juxtaposition between the king’s words and the reality of the decayed statue highlights Shelley’s message about the transience of power - it is only temporary. This also encourages the reader to see how the king was frequently incorrect, leaving them to consider how their own rulers behave.
• "Boundless and Bare", "Lone and Level": 'Shelley uses alliteration to help to emphasise the lonely nature of the remains and how there truly nothing is left from the remains of the statue. The empty space of the surrounding desert helps to show how the power this ruler owned is no longer there after the nature and its power takes over.'
• "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay": Caesura allows the reader to pause, and helps to emphasise the emptiness surrounding the statue. The absence of anything else helps to reinforce how the king's power was only temporary.

  The volta of the poem as it had previously been speaking about the powerful and arrogant way of the ruler, it then speaks about how the power the ruler had is no longer remaining and that what the ruler had power over is no longer there.'
• Shelley uses irony in Ozymandias by using the ruined statue as a symbol for the temporary nature of power or status. This irony from the "cold command" that the ruler once had to a "boundless and bare" surroundings.
• "a shatter'd visage lies": 'Shelley uses the adjective shattered to help emphasise how broken the statue was, that it was in pieces beyond repair helps to show the overbearing power and control that nature has over human status and power over time.'
• "Who said: two vast and trunkless legs of stone" - The caesura created with the colon in this line helps to emphasise the distance that Shelley has created between them and the king.

  The vivid imagery helps to reinforce the theme of decay and shows how the king is no longer important and his statue has deteriorated over time.
• "Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand" - Juxtaposition between the broken statue and the barren desert. Suggesting that although man-made statues and power of the king may not have lasted, whereas the nature will remain.

  Since the statue is what remains in the desert, it is now isolated and abandoned, no longer holding any significance, reinforcing the theme of the transience of power
• "Wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command" - The adjective "wrinkled" can help to make the reader imagine the unpleasant look the king has, it can also have connotations of age and decay reinforcing the "antique" and forgotten nature of the statue

  "Sneer of cold command" can show that he did not rule as a desirable ruler along with alliteration.
• "Its sculptor well those passions read" - The sculptor has created the statue ‘well’ suggesting that the statue is highly accurate and represents the king’s character successfully. Although the statue was carefully crafted by a skilled sculptor, it was still destroyed overtime. This reinforces the idea that all human achievements will inevitably decay one day and the impermanence of power.
• "The hand that mocked then and the heart that fed" - Shows the two natures of the king, the mocking hand could also be suggestive of the sculptor intended his statue to make fun of the ruler
• "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" - Exclamatory phrase mixed with the imperative verb "look" to help emphasise how controlling the king was. This can help to show how arrogant and boastful of a ruler he was, as he refers to them as "mighty" can hint at the idea that he also finds his entire empire as strong as himself, suggesting the powerful empires will fall over time.

  "Despair" can reinforce Shelley's idea about how human achievements are only temporary