ozymandias

• The poem

  
• Written by


  Percy Bysshe Shelley
• When was it written?


  -1818

  -romantic poem
• Context


  -Shelley was a real revolutionary (anarchnist)

  -he wanted a reform in society

  -he wanted to get rid of the government and monarchy and church as he hated them all

  -he didn't like the class system
• who is the poem written about


  -being written about a king called Rameses II, although Shelley doesn't know if he was a bad/ mean ruler: allegory for King George III
• Structure


  -is written like a sonnet but it's got a broken rhyme scheme (broken sonnet)

  -its helps to show the fragility of power
• what is the key message of the poem


  -its saying how power is pointless and in the end you will lose it and become like everyone else

  -he's being told by a person to emphasise how Ozymandias' legacy hasn't been well known as the only thing that's passed down is his failings has there's nothing to show for his power except a broken statue
• Half sunk' and 'shattered


  -could be a metaphor

  - the face (visage) is half sunk and shattered making it hard to memorise

  -its being consumed by the sands of time as Ozymandias' legacy/ memory is disappearing over time

  -he's being brought down to the same level as everyone else (to show how power doesn't last for everyone and how everyone should be the same)
• Which yet survive'


  -the bad reputation he has is all that ha lasted as everything he once called his and his empire has gone
• Look on my works. ye Mighty, and despair!'


  -imperative language and possessive pronoun

  -to show how he was a commanding and strict ruler

  -to show how he thinks all work is his and he's saying he's done it all and no one else will ever compete with him

  -he also wants people to fear him and be afraid and he wants to be remembered for that

  -it's ironic because the statue is surrounded by nothing as all his 'works' has gone
• boundless and bare'


  -alliteration of adjectives

  -to show how the power has faded
• colossal wreck'


  -oxymoron/ juxtaposition

  -to emphasise what it once was to the nothingness that remains

  -his power has been diminished and stripped

  -its in a bad state as no one cares about it/ him
• king of kings'


  - biblical reference

  - smack of arrogant pride

  - could imply that his subsequent obscurity was a punishment from God which was a subject that shelly considered in several of his other poem s

  - furthermore the repetition of kings shows how he wished to be omnipotent and worshipped like a god
• vast'

  'colossal'

  'pedestal'

  -adjectives

  -showing he's arrogant and thinks he's too good

  -power mad and wants to show his power off

  -he wanted his statue to be the best and biggest
• sneer of cold command'


  -alliteration and verb

  -he wasn't remorseful and was unsympathetic

  -he was also cruel and strict to his people and forced them to do stuff he wanted
• lifeless'

  'decay'

  'bare'

  -death imagery/ semantic field of death

  -to show how dead his legacy is as no one has remembered him
• lone and level sands stretch far away


  - alliteration and sibilance,

  - whisper of the sand as it claims the statue, knowing hissing contrasts with sly hissing, laughing at Ozy

  the...and...sands...far...

  - far away sounds almost childlike and like a fairytale as if he power was just a story once upon a time
• trunkless legs of stone


  - torso suggests he is useless even the statue of his body almost taking his dignity away as only has his legs left and everyone wouldn't know what he looked like by just his legs. Almost mocked by the face of nature and they have removed everything but his legs
• what are the 3 main themes of the poem


  - Timeless message

  There is a certain timelessness to the poem.

  You could argue that its messages about the abuse of power and the temporary nature of political authority are as relevant today as when Shelley was writing.

  
  

  - Arrogance of rulers

  Shelley points out the arrogance of Ramses (also spelt Ramesses) and other leaders, whose power has led to pride and the mistreatment of others.

  The sculptor satirises (uses humour or irony to criticise) Ozymandias, shown by the phrase, "the hand that mocked them...".

  
  

  - Power of art

  By describing how nothing remains of Ozymandias but a work of art (statue) and collection of words (inscription), Shelley suggests that art, language and literature are far more enduring (lasting) than human power.
• "beside remains. Round the decay"

  Caesura
• Reading of Inscription


  Breaks Iambic Pentameter - Suggests that he thought he was about the law
• look on my works, ye mighty and despair!