Ozymandias 2 Flashcards
Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822
2nd generation romantic poet: usually wrote about dislike of urban life, embrace of nature.
Why would Shelley wrote the poem about King George 3rd
Shelley didn’t believe in war, the poem was wrote during rein of George 3rd (involved in many military conflicts)
Shelley hated the oppression and violence
Ozymandias represents him and people with power in general
Critique of religion
‘King of kings’
Jesus was often referred to as this in the bible.
Ozymandias sees himself as God-like
Power doesn’t last
What message does the sonnet form portray alternative 1
Sonnet- poems about love
Ozymandias: religious leaders, king George 3rd, Jesus are in love with themselves.
What message does the sonnet portray alternative 2
Ozymandias is a mixture of Petrarch sonnet (has an octave- first 8 lines- problem- presents details of Ozymandias broken statue/ and sestet- last 6 lines- solve- focusses on how power has disappeared) and Shakespearean sonnet (rhyme scheme ABAB).
It then changes to new rhyme scheme CDCD EFEF.
So Petrarch’s form gave way to Shakespeare’s form and Shakespeares form gave way to Shelleys new form.
ALL POWER ULTIMATELY GIVES WAY TO NEW POWER nothing remains forever, not even the form of the sonnet.
The artist
The statue (the artist) has outlived Ozymandias because the ‘sneer’ is still visible.
How is the artist presented
‘The heart that fed’
‘The hand that mocked’
‘Mocked’
Mock could mean ‘to create’ or ‘to make fun of’
The artist was mocking ozymandias without Ozymandias noticing he was being mocked- artist is attacking Ozymandias.
The artist is a metaphor for Shelley.
Poetry outlives the powerful- Shelley is more popular today than he was 200 years ago but king George 3rd was just another king.
Title
‘Ozy’- Greek ‘ozium’ to breathe
‘Mandias’- Greek ‘mandate’ to rule
Power and control reflected in the title
‘I met a traveller’
Shelley distancing himself and not openly criticising the British monarchy.
It’s a thinly veiled attack
Deeply negative language
Sunk Shattered Frown Wrinkled Sneer
Shows poem is an attack and not praising powerful
‘Cold command’
Alliteration of ‘c’ reflects harsh nature of Ozymandias, aggressive and harsh sounding.
Nature outlived Ozymandias
‘Boundless and bare’ emphasises vast emptiness
‘Lone and level sands stretch far away’
Desert (nature) has outlived the statue
He thought he was powerful but was outlived by nature (romantics embrace nature)
