English Lit - Ozymandias

• 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's dislike of monarchy and religion
• Ozymandias

  Poem's overlying message is that power is transitory, it doesn't last forever
• Sonnet

  Form of love poetry that originated in 13th century Italy, best known with reference to 14th century poet Petrarch
• Petrarchan sonnet


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


  • 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme
• Ozymandias does not fit neatly into either Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnet forms</b>
• Poem's form


  Reflects the transitory nature of power, as the rhyme scheme changes 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
• Poems that compare well with Ozymandias in terms of misguided notions of human power

  • Extract from the Prelude, My Last Duchess, Kamikaze, Tissue
• Distancing


  The poet/speaker distances themselves from the description of Ozymandias, both in time and space
• Shelley is writing about a dictator, most people take this to be Napoleon who was defeated in 1815
• Shelley is writing against the political ruling class in Britain


  The general who defeated Napoleon, Lord Wellington, is going to become Prime Minister
• Shelley creates distance between himself and the antique land he is describing to avoid appearing unpatriotic
• Shelley wants to show that the thirst for power and desire to be an absolute ruler is as old as history
• Ozymandias' statue


  • Wrinkled lip - conveys a sneer, associated with age
  • Sneer - suggests the ruler rules with contempt
  • Told command - harsh sounding, emphasises the ruler's emotionless, cold nature
• The hand that mocked them

  Can refer to Ozymandias mocking his people, or the sculptor mocking Ozymandias
• The ruler's heart


  Feeding them - ironic, as the ruler is cold-hearted and offers his people nothing
• The sculptor's art has survived Ozymandias, outlasting his political power
• Look on my works ye mighty and despair: 'Ironic - Ozymandias intended this to celebrate his power, but now it celebrates the artist's power'
• The reference to the Colossus of Rhodes is a double illusion - it suggests even mighty symbols of power get destroyed, but the Colossus itself was a myth that lived on
• "The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed; / And on the pedestal, these words appear'd:
• "Nothing beside remains: round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare / The lone and level sands stretch far away."
• "Look on my works ye mighty and despair"
• 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'"
• 'Boundless and bare': the desert landscape represents the emptiness of human ambition.
• The poem explores themes such as the fleeting nature of power, the inevitability of change, and the importance of perspective.
• 'I met a traveller from an antique land,'
• The use of personification (the hand mocking) adds depth to the statue and emphasizes its symbolic significance.
• Tyranny of the ruler is suggested via aggressive language
• Poem focuses on power of ozymandias, representing human power
• Ozymandias‘ power has been lost and is only visible due to power of art