Ozymandias- power and conflict
- Created by: RiaB2003
- Created on: 05-02-19 14:45
View mindmap
- 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
- Shelly was a romantic poet- 'Romanticism' - big influence on art and literature in late 1700s & early 1800s
- 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
- Form
- 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
- Shelley frames poem as story - make clear that narrator hasn't seen the statue - only heard about it.
- "'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
- "I met a traveller from an antique land" L1
- What happens?
- 3- However, the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain
- Context
Comments
No comments have yet been made