'Ozymandias' by Shelley
- Created by: sp.15
- Created on: 10-12-19 20:31
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- Ozymandias by Shelly
- ideas about power and conflict
- Ozymandias was an arrogant, power-crazy ruler.
- Ozymandias presented himself as powerful to make his people fear him.
- The poem is ironic: even the most powerful rulers can't defeat time and nature.
- the sculptor mocked Ozymandias; his people feared him, but did not respect him.
- Context
- Ozymandias is really the Egyptian pharaoh (king), Rameses ll
- Shelley was a romantic poet who hated rulers who misused power.
- Language
- Words to suggest the decay of the sculpture: "trunkless legs", "colossal wreck"
- Language suggesting Ozymandias was an unpleasant bully: "frown" , "colossal wreck"
- Alliteration links his manner with power: "sneer of cold command"
- Ozymandias' words about himself are arrogant: "king of kings"
- Form
- The sonnet form is complete, unlike the sculpture.
- The Volta (turning point) after the octave (after line 8) introduces his arrogant boast about being "king of kings"
- The traveller speaks most of the poem; the first speaker is a frame narrator which makes the scene in the desert appear more realistic.
- Structure
- Use of the caesura after "nothing besides remains" to show the irony of Ozymandias' boast - the statue, like his power, has not lasted.
- The beginning of the poem emphasises' power by showing us the huge legs of the sculpture
- The ending shows nature's greater power: "lone and level sands stretch far away"
- Quotations to learn
- "vast and trunkless legs of stone"
- "sneer of cold command"
- "king of kings"
- "nothing beside remains"
- ideas about power and conflict
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