Ozymandias
- Created by: Noah_S
- Created on: 01-04-19 20:39
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- Ozymandias
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
- 1818
- Structure & Form
- Sonnet (14 lines) although it doesn't have the same rhyme scheme and punctuation that most sonnets have
- Written in iambic pentameter
- The 1st line and a half are the narrators work, whilst for the rest of the play it is from the traveller he meets
- No clear stanzas - instead it is one block of text that is split up by punctuation
- Context
- Shelly was a Romantic Poet which is shown in the structure of the poem
- He was thought to be a radical for his time, critisiing the current King of England (Kind George III)
- The poem tells of the remains of a statue of Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II which Shelley links to the current monarch of the time.
- Beginning
- 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone'
- The legs of the statue are described as vast, highlighting how much the Pharaoh thought of himself by making a large statue of himself in the first place
- 'a shatter'd visage lies'
- The adjective 'shatter'd' shows an image of a face being in pieces rather than one whole thing it is much weaker and fragile like this.
- Shows how power has decade as slowly the visage erodes - just like his power
- 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone'
- Middle
- 'king of kings:'
- The repetition of 'kings' foregrounds the rulers arrogance. It is metaphorical as he felt that he was in charge of all others.
- It is ironic, as his identity is described as shattered earlier on
- 'Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
- Imperative sentence used in the inscription of the statue. Exposes the rulers arrogance and pride.
- Even after death, he is trying to keep his power and dictate what other people do which shows how power is a temporary concept as hardly anyone remembers him.
- 'king of kings:'
- End
- 'Nothing beside remains.'
- Links to the lack of power that is left showing how over time power erodes
- 'Round the decay/Of that colossal wreck'
- Decay suggest that decrease of power has happened over time creating the idea that time cannot be overruled.
- Colossal highlight exactly how powerful the leader once was and the noun 'wreck' implies that the power is now non-existent.
- 'Nothing beside remains.'
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
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