Ozymandias. Flashcards
‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’”
tone: exclamatory sentence.
The tone is strong and authorative - ironic because nobody is listening.
“Look” Wants people to follow him/fear him and feel intimidated.
Wants to instil fear into people’s hearts-his great ability. statue is now destroyed, people more likely to despair at the nature of such power.
“sneer of cold command”
Alteration.
Suggests Ozymandias was powerful and arrogant which is ironic because nothing is left.
“Sneer”-Looking down at people in a derogatory way.
Shows that Shelly disapproves of the pharaoh.
He seeks to paint him as arrogant and cruel who did little for his subjects.
“colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
metaphor: “colossal wreck”
The phrase is not only a reference to the forgotten statue, it is also a metaphor for Ozymandias’ ego.
Sibilance: “Sands stretch”
Sands are iconic of time which suggests that the writer was trying to suggest that nothing can outlast time.
Alliteration: “lone and level”
Used to emphasise how not even a great King can outlast the sands of time.
“shattered visage”.
image of a shattered visage- sense of irony: believed in his own power/superiority,
tried to present image of greatness through his statue,
-forgotten/estroyed by time other than the visage that had been intended to show he was unforgettable.
Themes and Context.
One of the main themes of the poem is irony. The writer suggests throughout how not even the memory of a powerful ruler can outlast time.
Inspired by the recent unearthing of Ramesses II (an Egyptian Pharaoh).
Form, structure and language.
-poem is a sonnet written in iambic pentameter.
Sonnets are normally love poems but here political ideas are explored.
-Divided into 3 parts: Traveller creates picture of Ozymandias at the start/end. Middle part celebrates the artist and the idea of art as enduring.
-Use of an oxymoron in line 13 emphasises the destruction of the statue.
