Ozymandias*
With info i found from a revision guide :)
- Created by: honeycrumpet
- Created on: 16-03-23 14:46
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- OZYMANDIAS
- FORM
- Sonnet, with a turning point at line 9 (Petrarchan sonnet)
- Doesn't follow regular sonnet rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter
- Reflecting how human power and structure can be destroyed
- Second hand account - distances the reader from dead king
- Frames the poet as a story to make it clear narrator has only heard about it.
- Emphasizes how unimportant Ozymandias is now.
- Or is he? - He is still being talked about, something still remains. Poems are written about him.
- Emphasizes how unimportant Ozymandias is now.
- IRONY
- There is nothing left to show for the rulers boasting/his great civilization.
- Ruined statue = symbol for the temporary nature of political power/human achievement.
- Reflects Shelleys hatred of oppression and his belief it is possible to overturn social and political order.
- "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone"
- Emphasises the size and stature but also shows the statue is incomplete.
- "Shatter'd visage lies"
- Even a powerful human cant control the damaging effects of time.
- "The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed"
- 'Mock' can mean to ridicule or likeness of something - was sculptor mocking Ozymandias?
- Tells other rulers to "despair" because of size and grandeur of his "works"
- But they should despair because power is temporary and unimportant like him
- "The decay of that colossal wreck"
- The ruined statue shows how human achievements are insignificant compare to the passing of time.
- STRUCTURE
- Narrator builds up image of statue by focusing on different parts
- Poem ends by describing the enormous desert
- Helps sum up insignificance of statue
- "Nothing beside remains...The lone and levels sands stretch far away."
- LANGUAGE OF POWER
- Poem focuses on power of Ozymandias, representing human power
- However his power is lost and only visible due to the power of art.
- Ultimately nature has ruined the statue - nature and time have more power than anything else.
- "Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things"
- Having survive and lifeless on the same line hints at how art can outlast human power
- But the ruined statue shows that ultimately art cannot immortalize power
- Having survive and lifeless on the same line hints at how art can outlast human power
- Alliteration of 'lone and level' - emphasizes the feeling of empty space in the surrounding desert.
- "Nothing beside remains...The lone and levels sands stretch far away."
- Desert is vast, survives for longer than the broken statue, emphasizing insignificance of the statue/ Ozymandias
- Poem focuses on power of Ozymandias, representing human power
- ANGRY LANGUAGE
- "Sneer of cold command"
- The sculptor understood the arrogance of the ruler
- "King of kings... ye Mighty and despair!"
- Arrogant and powerful - challenged other rulers
- The tyranny of the ruler is suggested through aggressive language
- "Sneer of cold command"
- CONTEXT
- Shelley was a romantic poet - believed in emotion rather than reason, focused on nature.
- Disliked monarchies, absolute power and opresson
- Radical views inspired by the French Revolution
- MAIN THEMES
- Pride
- Arrogance
- Power
- Time/memory
- Nature
- Identity
- FORM
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