Ozymandias Flashcards
What is the form?
*Follows Petrarch + Shakespeare Sonnet
*Octave which is about Ozymandias, then sestet which focuses on power disappearing and nature outliving and Shakespeare as Iambic Pentameter.
*Shakespeare Sonnet came after so Shelly suggest all power gives way to new power. Nothing remains the same, not even the sonnet.
2 Quotes with analysis in the opening
“I met a traveller from an antique land”
* “antique” suggest how the power is old and he has never heard of it as he “met a traveller”
“And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”
* “Cold command” – Plosive shows the harshness of Ozymandias
* “Wrinkled lip” this power is old and even the most powerful thing is slipping. “Wrinkled” means it is getting old.
* Power is being mocked as “sneer”, no one would want themselves being cold.
A SOAPAIMS Quote with analysis
“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed”
- “mocked” – The artist mocked him by creating him with a “cold command” and his power has no effect on the sculptor and may have blinded him as he can’t see the simple criticism. Shelly says poetry outlives power and George 3rd would crumble if he were a tyrant
- Idiom to ‘bite the hand that feeds you’ so you shouldn’t criticise people that you depend on like the people who work for you. Message that your power could be for something good.
- The volta
An Ending Quote with analysis
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”
* “King of kings” is a subtle reference to the Bible; to God warning mortals of the dangers of thinking themselves greater than they are: pride and power only lasts as long as life.
* Hyperbole: emphasising his arrogance as a leader
suggests the poem is an ironic memorial to his ego
