Ozymandias

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  • Created by: Jmsmcn
  • Created on: 19-09-17 18:08
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  • Ozymandias
    • Form
      • The poem is a sonnet with a volta on line 9 (Petrarchan Sonnet)
        • It doesn't follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme, reflecting on how human power and and structures can be destroyed
        • Self love
      • It uses iambic pentameter but it is often disrupted, like the works of Ozymandias now
      • It is a second hand account which distances the reader from the dead king
      • "I met a traveler from an antique land"
        • Shelly frames the poem as a strory to make it clear the speaker hasn't see the statue, only heard about it
        • This emphasizes how unimportant Ozymandias is now
      • "Look"
        • Having the stressed syllable at the start heightens Ozymandias' tone of command
    • Structure
      • The narrator builds up an image of the statue by focusing on differnt parts of it in turn
      • The poem ends by describing the enormous desert which sums up the insignificance of the statue
    • Irony
      • There is nothing left despite Ozymandias' boasting about his great civilization
      • The ruined statue is used to show the temporary power of human achievement and political power
      • Shelly's use of irony reflects his hatred of oppression and his belief that it is possible to social and political order
      • "vast", "trunkless", "stone"
        • This emphasizes the size but it shows that it is incomplete
      • "shatter'd visage"
        • Shows even a powerful human can't control the effects of time
      • "The hand that mock'd them"
        • Mocked can mean to make fun of something or to create a likeness - the sculptor may have intended to make fun of Ozymandias in his statue.
          • He didn't even have full control over people then
      • "the decay / Of that colossal wreck"
        • The ruined statue shows how human achievements are insignificant compared to the passing of time
      • "despair!"
        • He tells other rulers to "despair" but they should despair because their power is temporary and unimportant, like his
    • Angry Language
      • "ye Mighty"
        • He even challenges other rulers
          • "king of kings:"
            • He is arrogant and powerful
              • "ye Mighty"
                • He even challenges other rulers
                  • "king of kings:"
                    • He is arrogant and powerful
        • "sneer of cold command,"
          • The sculptor understood the arrogance of the ruler
        • The tyranny of the ruler is suggested through aggressive language
      • Language of Power
        • The poem focuses on the power of Ozymadias but this power has been lost and is only visable due to the power of art
        • Ultimately, nature has ruined the statue, showing nature and time have more power than anything else
        • "survive", "lifeless"
          • Having these words on the same line hints how art can outlast human power
          • Ultimately art cannot immortalise power as the statue gets ruined
        • "boundless and bare", "stretch far away"
          • The desert is vast and survives far longer than the broken statue
          • Emphasizes the insignificance of the statue and Ozymandias
        • "lone and level"
          • Alliteration emphasizes the feeling of empty space surrounding the desert
      • "Stand in the desert"
        • The setting suggests an absence of life and vitality
      • Emotions
        • Pride
          • The ruler was proud of what he did and wanted others to see it
        • Arrogance
          • The inscirption shows he though he was the most powerful ruler
          • He was better at ruling than evryone else and no one could compete with him
        • Power
          • Human civilizations and achievements are insignificant compared to the passing of time
          • Art has the power to preserve some elements of human existence but not forever
      • Context
        • Shelly was a 'Romantic' poet
          • They believed in emotion rather than reason and tried to capture intense experiences in their work
          • They often focused on the power of nature
          • Romanticism was a movement that had a big influence on art and literature in the late 1700s and early 1800s
        • Shelly disliked monarchies, absolute power and the oppresion of ordinary poeple
        • His radical views were inspired by the events of the French Revolution

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