Power and Conflict- Ozymandias

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  • Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
    • Quotes
      • 'sneer of cold command'
        • Ozymandias thinks he is superior to everyone else.
        • Ozymandias is an arrogant and powerful character which is ironic considered he is left with nothing in the end.
      • 'boundless and bare'
        • Alliteration
          • 'sneer of cold command'
            • Ozymandias thinks he is superior to everyone else.
            • Ozymandias is an arrogant and powerful character which is ironic considered he is left with nothing in the end.
        • Used to emphasise how forgotten the statue is.
      • 'sands stretch'
        • Sibilance
        • Sands are iconic of time which suggests that the writer was trying to suggest that nothing can outlast time.
      • 'Lone and level'
        • alliteration
        • Used to emphasise how not even a great King can outlast the sands of time.
          • Sands are iconic of time which suggests that the writer was trying to suggest that nothing can outlast time.
    • Context
      • Poet
        • Died at the age of 29 because of a boating accident
        • Romantic poet
        • Was married twice
          • Had 2 children with his first wife
          • His second wife, Mary Shelley, was 16 when she married him and had 5 children. Only 1 survived..
        • Expelled from Oxford with a friend for writing about Atheism
        • He was very critical of society at the time.
      • Poem
        • Inspired by the recent unearthing of Ramesses II (an Egyptian Pharaoh).
          • Egyptian Pharaohs saw themselves as Gods in mortal form.
          • The reference to the stone statue in the poem is likely to be a direct reference to the recently unearthed statue.
            • Egyptian Pharaohs saw themselves as Gods in mortal form.
    • Themes
      • One of the main themes of the poem is irony. This is because the statue is the visual proof that not even a powerful ruler can outlast time.
      • Pride
      • Arrogance
      • Time
      • Decay
      • Nature
      • Power
    • Tones
      • irony
      • Untitled
    • Form and structure
      • A sonnet (14 lines) but with an non conventional  structure that starts ABAB but doesn't follow sonnet rhyme schemes.
      • Not a love poem (unless the self-love of the ruler)
      • The iambic pentameter rhyme scheme is also disrupted and decayed.
      • There is a turning point (volta) at Line 9. This reflects how human structures can be destroyed or decay.

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