Ozymandias- power and conflict

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  • Created by: RiaB2003
  • Created on: 05-02-19 14:45
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  • Ozymandias
    • Context
      • Shelly was a romantic poet- 'Romanticism' - big influence on art and literature in late 1700s & early 1800s
        • 'Romantic' poets believed in emotion rather than reason- tried to capture intense experiences in their work -  focused on power of nature
      • Disliked monarchies - power & oppression of ordinary people
      • Radical political views - inspired by events of French Revolution- monarchy was overthrown
    • Form structure & language
      • Form
        • Poem is a sonnet- with turning point- line 9. Doesn't follow sonnet rhyme scene - reflecting way that human power & structures can be destroyed
        • Uses iambic pentameter - often disrupted
        • Story is second hand account- distances reader even further from dead king
      • Irony
        • Ruined stature seen as symbol for temporary nature of political power/human achievement
        • Use of irony - hatred  of oppression (context) & belief that it's possible  to overturn social & political order
      • Language of power
        • Focuses on power of Ozymandias- human power. His powers been lost- only visible due to power of art
        • Nature has ruined the statue - nature & time have more power than anything else
      • Structure
        • Narrator builds up image of statue - focusing on different parts of it in turn
        • Poem ends by describing enormous desert - helps to sum up insignificance of the statue
      • Angry Language
        • The tyranny of ruler is suggested through aggressive language
    • THE POEM
      • "I met a traveller from an antique land" L1
        • Shelley frames poem as story - make clear that narrator hasn't seen the statue - only heard about it.
          • Emphasises how unimportant Ozymandias is now
      • "'Two vast & trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert" L3
        • Emphasises size and stature but also shows that statue is incomplete
        • Setting suggests an absence of life vitality
        • "shatter'd visage" L4
          • Ironic- even a powerful human can't control the damaging effects of time
      • "Sneer of cold command" L5
        • The sculptor understood the arrogance of the ruler
      • "Survive" "Lifeless" L7
        • Having "lifeless" & "survive" on same line hints how art can outlast human power - but ruined statue shows art can' immortalise power
      • "The hand that mock'd them" L9
        • 'Mock' can mean to ridicule / to create likeness of something - perhaps the sculptor intended his statue to make fun of Ozymandias
      • "Kings of kings" L10 "ye mighty" L11
        • Arrogant & powerful - he even challenged  other rulers
      • "Look" L11
        • Having a stressed syllable at start of line heightens Ozymandias's tone of command
      • "Despair" L11
        • Irony- tells other rulers to 'despair' due to size & grandeur of his 'works'- in fact they should despair 'cause their power is temporary & unimportant- like his
        • "the decay Of that colossal wreck" L13
          • The ruined statue shows how human achievements are insignificant compared to passing of time
      • "boundless and bare" L13 "stretch far away" L14
        • Desert is vast & survives far longer than broken statue - emphasising insignificance of the statue and of Ozymandias
        • "Lone and level" L14
          • Alliteration - emphasises feeling of empty space in surrounding desert
    • What happens?
      • 3- However, the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain

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