Ozymandias
- 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
- The poem is a sonnet with a volta on line 9 (Petrarchan Sonnet)
- 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
- 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.
- "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
- He is arrogant and powerful
- "king of kings:"
- He even challenges other rulers
- "ye Mighty"
- He is arrogant and powerful
- "king of kings:"
- He even challenges other rulers
- "sneer of cold command,"
- The sculptor understood the arrogance of the ruler
- The tyranny of the ruler is suggested through aggressive language
- "ye Mighty"
- 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
- Pride
- 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
- Shelly was a 'Romantic' poet
- Form
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