Ozymandias - Percy Shelley

• Ozymandias


  Poem by Percy Shelley about a traveler who encounters a broken statue in the desert
• Statue


  • Two huge stone legs standing without a body
  • Head of the statue partially sunk into the ground
  • Face has a nasty, arrogant look despite being shattered and cracked
  • Sculptor made it look very lifelike
• Inscription on the statue's pedestal: '"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"'
• Statue's original state


  It had once stood in the midst of a vast and impressive empire
• Statue's current state


  It is crumbled, broken, and isolated in the middle of a lonely desert
• Romantic poetry


  Poetic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries
• Conventions of Romantic poetry

  • Dislike of imposed control by those in power
• Shelley had a great dislike of the monarchy and religion
• Ozymandias


  Criticism of monarchy and religion
• The overlying message of the poem is that power is transitory, it doesn't last forever
• Sonnet


  A form of love poetry which originated in 13th century Italy, best known with reference to the 14th century poet Petrarch
• Petrarchan sonnet


  • 14 lines structured as a group of 8 lines (octave) and a group of 6 lines (sestet)
• Shakespearean sonnet


  • 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme
• Ozymandias does not fit neatly into either the Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnet form
• Form of the poem

  Reflects the transitory nature of power, changing over time
• "King of kings"


  Title given to God in the Bible, suggesting Ozymandias sees himself as god-like in his power
• Alliteration of "k" sound


  Indicates the cruelty and aggression of Ozymandias
• Ozymandias can be read as a criticism of monarchy and religion
• Ozymandias


  Compared to other poems about misguided notions of human power, such as Extract from the Prelude, My Last Duchess, Kamikaze, and Tissue