Ozymandias Flashcards
‘vast and trunkless… half sunk, a shattered visage’
adjective ‘vast’ emphasises power
falling literally from power and has no heart/is cruel and loss of power is emphasised by compound adjective
‘shattered’ adjective shows deterioration and implies that the statue is not respected and the public don’t care for it as he didn’t care for them and it seems as though, gradually nature is taking over and reclaiming the power as they want to conceal his memory
written about Napoleon’s domination of Europe and how this is coming to an end and he was also critical of King George 3rd - inspired by French revolution
irregular rhyme scheme suggests lack of control
‘wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
juxtaposition between the aging and vulnerability connoted by ‘wrinkled’ with ‘sneer’ which implies his cruelty
noun-phrase and plosive alliteration (consonance - military power like Rameses) also imitates the King’s tone and shows how harsh he was and the lack of regard he had for others
sonnet and in iambic pentameter, which isn’t the usual rhyming pattern for iambic pentameter which seems ironic as it is for the love of himself, not love of others
a political poem
negative semantic field of power
‘king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty and despair’
repeated possessive determiner ‘my’ shows his arrogance and selfish nature.
direct voice and imperative verb ‘look’ shows how he is in control in life and had full power, however nature and time have power over man
biblical reference - emphasises self-importance and links him to God which suggests he wants to be worshipped through the semantic field of worship
ironic as he believes that people despair as they cannot come close to his power, yet his memory only lives due to the statue and suggests that art outlives power
about Ramesses 2nd of Egypt
