Language

• • Ozymandias is name of Egyptian pharaoh - Ramesses the Great
  • Seen as one of most powerful pharaohs of ancient Egypt
• • Poem is ironic and one large metaphor for human power
  • Human power is only temporary and time will always challenge any ruler and win
• • Statue is a metaphor - starts tall and mighty and ends up half sunk
  • This shows foolishness of Ozymandias of thinking that his legacy will live
• Themes:

  • Power of nature
  • Decay
  • Pride
• "antique"

  • Shows how idea of age in Ozymandias leads to things being forgotten and humanity moving on rapidly
• "vast and trunkless legs of stone"

  • Built in large area for many to see - desperate for remembrance
  • Statue was once mighty but has now decayed
• "shattered visage"

  • "Shattered" - any beauty he had is broken, everyone is powerless against time - memory is shattered
  • Face is most memorable part of body - lack of one shows he is forgotten
• "cold command"

  • Alliteration and consonance - hard "C" to emphasise harshness of his actions
• "My name is Ozymandias, kings of kings."

  • Biblical allusion - he sees himself as God-like and omnipotent
  • Phrase is ironic - statue would be somewhere important if he was King of Kings
• "colossal wreck"

  • Oxymoron
  • Statue becomes extended metaphor of his lost power and legacy
• "lone and level sands stretch far away"

  • Alliteration of "L" emphasises lack of things - idea he is forgotten
  • Alliteration of "S" can emphasise sands of time
  • "lone and level" connotes loss of legacy and emptiness
  • Sound of "L" creates long length - time is eternal and defeats everything - nothing lasts forever
  • Sand can equal time - statue was conquered by time - time conquers everything