Ozymandias Flashcards
Who is the author?
Percy Shelley
Summarise the poem
- Concerns the discovery of a semi-destroyed and decaying statue of Ramesses II, also known as Ozymandias
- Shows how power is temporary
- No matter how powerful or tyrannical a ruler is, power will deteriorate
What are the themes present in the poem?
Power of nature / time
Control
Art
Time
Leadership
Decay
Hubris
Emptiness
Disintegration
Arrogance of man
What is the key message in Ozy?
Human power is transient but art will survive
Describe the form of Ozy and its impact
- Sonnet, but isn’t abt love
→ love of power maybe? - Doesn’t follow a regular rhyme scheme
→ enables Shelley to imply that poetry and literature can defy tradition and give a new way to power - Petrarchan sonnet but follows an irregular rhyme scheme + somewhat irregular iambic pentameter
→ breaks at line 10 but is brought under control immediately
→ just like nature constraints time and art is more powerful than tyranny
Describe the structure of Ozy and its impact
- Poem has 3 voices: the narrator, the traveller and Ozy
- Uses lots of caesura and enjambment
→ creates an uneven pattern reflecting the broken nature of the statue + nothing lasts forever - Rhyme scheme
→ contrasts with the single stanza as the former suggests a lack of power + control of a ruler
→ single stanza = power
Describe the three voices in Ozy
→ traveller’s voice dominates at the start + establishes the size and magnitude of the statue, but also its decay and disrepair
→ voice of ozy briefly interrupts to assert authority from the grave
→ poem ends with a description of the desert, which emphasises the iron of the words + power of nature
What is the author’s background?
- Was a radical, romantic poet
- Rejected power, corruption, and oppression of governments
- Hated the monarchy and george 3 cus militaristic attitude
- Pacifist and positioned himself against georges military exploits
What is the historical context surrounding this poem?
- Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II (throne name Ozymandias)
→ thought himself to be a powerful leader
→ remembered for his tyrannical military exploits + large empire of Egypt - King George III
→ many believed he overstayed his welcome as the king
Shelley’s criticism within the poem
→ systems in which one individual is given so much power that the population is unable to remove him
→ power, arrogance and pride
Complete the quote
‘I met a traveller…
…from an antique land’
Analyse the quote
‘I met a traveller from an antique land’
→ Shelley distances himself from the speaker
→ antique land: long forgotten
→ ideas of monarchy are long forgotten
→ narrator hasn’t even seen the statue himself, only heard about it
→ stress’s ozy unimportance
→ could link to shelley wanting progression within British politics
Complete the quote
‘two vast and trunkless…
…legs of stone’
Analyse the quote
‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone’
→ emphasises how time + nature has destroyed the statue
→ stone: implies ozy wanted his power to last 4ever but it didn’t
→ size and stature stressed, but it is incomplete
Complete the quote
‘Sneer of ….
… cold command’
Analyse the quote
‘Sneer of cold command’
→ evokes images of tyrants
→ suggests that during the making of the statue, ozy was already old
→ was closer to death + loss of power } you can’t cling onto it
→ sneer conveys ideas that rulers are unsympathetic + have no interest in helping ordinary citizens
→ alliteration: shows how emotionless he is
→ command: militaristic
→ sculptor understood his arrogance
