Ozymandias notes

Old things:  Talking about the Pharaoh as wrinkled and broken and a wreck: how was he seen? Then? Now? He was believed to be a God! How degrading then that he could not stay young forever or alive for that matter...

• Antique

  • Still has value

  • Very old but as it still has value it is in a good condition for how old it may be

  • Becomes a ruin once it is incoherent in meaning and obscure in purpose. Ruins are valuable but not nearly as much or for the same purpose as it was created to have been.

  • Some people collect old objects without knowing the cultural significance of where they took it from. The british stole many things from many places without returning them. Even jewels in the queen’s crown!

• Shattered 

  • Broken into pieces

  • Could also be broken on the inside - maybe his outgoing demeanour is to cover something up

  • Suggests the shattered remains of his power and legacy

• Wrinkled

  • Ageing of the skin, could mean his power is weakening as he becomes older

  • Tends to be from exposure to UV

    • Rameses II was exposed to a lot of pressure as the Egyptian Pharaoh

  • In the modern day we see wrinkles as a beauty defect.

• Decay

  • Slowly being destroyed over a long period of time instead of being destroyed very quickly.

  • The withering away of a dead body.

  • Suggests the decay of his influence and his legacy.

• Wreck

  • Death

  • Shipwreck

    • Was going somewhere: had a purpose but then crashed and fell to the ocean.

    • Think about how we all have a purpose in life but death can surprise us and stop us before we reach our final destination

    • Broken and abandoned with no way to reverse or resolve the issue.

  • Age

    • In Egypt years were measured roughly by the seasons, and then eras by the amount of years a specific pharaoh reigns.

      • Ramesses II was the 3rd pharaoh of the 19th dynasty

      • “Ramesses the Great”

  • Archaeology==What a great idea! Indeed it is about the discovery of the statue as well as anything else :-)

    • “Egyptology”

Power:

• Mighty - possessing great power

  • Physical strength

    • Fighting with weapons and strategy- War

  • Political strength.

    • Fighting with words and wisdom- Discussion and arguments

• Visage

  • Sees power, Feels power but it is like an illusion at the end of the day

    • Mirages are common in the desert, some find it difficult to discern them from reality.

  • Definition: The face, usually with reference to shape, features, expression

    • How the statue made Ozymandias look in the eyes of anyone who knows he existed after he is dead.

• Colossal

  • Like a giant

  • Height, representing power over people (they are small = their power is little compared to his). (His height is metaphorical instead of physical)

• Boundless

  • With no limits to possibilities

  • Vast

  • Reminds me (kai) of the poem with the Crimean war. Bounds used to be a unit of measurement for distance 

• Command

  • Shows the power that he had and that he was in control; he…