Ozymandias Flashcards
FORM
PETRARCHAN SONNET is used but an IRREGULAR RHYME SCHEME is utilised and consistent IAMBIC PENTAMETER which is traditional of Shakespearian sonnets. Perhaps, Shelley does this to imply how poetry can defy tradition and provide a new way of power.
STRUCTURE
CAESURA is used to represent the breaking up of the statue
Shelley also used ENJAMBMENT to reflect the broken nature of the statue - nothing can last forever.
All lines have 10 syllables except line 11 which has 11 syllables, reflecting that the ruler believes himself to be more important than God. ( ‘King of Kings’ )
CONTEXT
Shelley was a romantic poet and was very anti-monarchy. He rejected institutions of power and his poetry was used to spread political ideas.
Shelley perhaps wrote Ozymandias to comment on the temporary and ultimately futile nature of human power alongside criticising institutions that represented power and authority.
References to Ramesses II - he is remembered for his tyranny and military exploits, building a large empire over Egypt.
“Kings of kings: Look on my works.”
-Ozymandias put himself above all other rulers suggesting that he has authority over ‘all kings’. He’s commanding his subjects even in death, taking ownership of the work himself.
-Imperative verb ‘look’ is used; commanding others to admire his legacy, even future kings would be expected to be indoctrinated to believe Ozymandias is their ultimate ruler.
-‘My’, possessive pronoun; creates irony as the king wouldn’t have physically contributed to the works himself - slaves would have had a lower opinion due to the forceful hand that would have enforced the sculptors.
-COLON suggests the announcement of the command; expecting his works to last forever.
“Shattered”
“Decay”
“Colossal wreck.”
-damage has been done: inflicted upon the legacy and power of ozymandias, evolved into decay and cannot be retrieved.
-semantic field of damage: the damage cannot be undone to the work/legacy.
OXYMORON is also utilised : ‘colossal’ means grand, the grandness has been ‘wrecked’, which is further ironic.
-‘decay’; nothing can be retrieved from the legacy - it has been decayed like it’s disappeared ( connotes the idea of rot; power has rotted away )
-‘shattered’ means to cause harm; connotes the idea of shattered glass.
the image of ozymandias in reality was insignificant whereas he believed he was superior, to him, his own inferiority was transparent, like glass.
“Lone and level sands stretch far away.”
-Desert is vast and endless, creates irony that the desert is endless but ozymandias’s legacy IS NOT.
-use of alliteration ‘lone,level’ + sibilance ‘sands stretch’: power of nature overcoming the power of ozymandias.
-‘stretch far’ : the desert is taking the loss of power with it as it stretches away - it’ll be lost and buried within the desert. ( no trace of it )
-if the power is lost, the statue can no longer gain any attention, the narrator focuses on how nature has overpowered ozymandias and his power/legacy.
