Ozymandias Flashcards
Who wrote Ozymandias?
Percy Bysshe Shelley`
What era of literature was Ozymandias written as part of?
Romanticism
2nd gen
What were Bysshe Shelley’s life dates?
1792-1822
What were Shelley’s political views?
Radical, anti-authoritarian thinker
Atheistic views
What was Shelley’s background?
DIid he conform to this as he grew up?
Upper class
-Edon and Oxford educated
In line to inherit seat in Parliament
No
Expelled from Oxford for promoting atheism
Traditional romantic lifestyle
What was Shelley’s personal life like?
Eloped at 19 with a 16 year old to Europe -wife died--> Then met and ran off with Mary (Daughter of his philosopher friend Godwin) Spent time at Lake Geneva w/ Lord Byron Wrote majority of works in later years Died at 29 in storm (storm=metaphor for his life?)
What was the background of Shelley writing Ozymandias?
Friendly writing competition w/ friend about fallen monument
-Horace Smith (banker)
When did the competition between Shelley and Horace take place?
1817
What is Ozymandias?
Sonnet about hubristic nature of leaders
-one of best-known sonnets in European lit.
Who was Ozymandias?
Egyptian pharoah
What does Ozymandias mean in Greek?
Air and nothing
What are the themes of Ozymandias?
Power Oppression Mortality Corruption Nature Time
What does the emphatic adjective ‘vast’ in line 2 indicate?
How is this ironic?
The great power possessed by Ozymandias
Soon after we find he has been reduced to nothing but rubble
What does the caesura in line 3 highlight?
The disparity between the sheer size of the stone legs and the emptiness of the desert
What does the enjambment paired with the alliteration of ‘…stone/stand…’ evoke in lines 2-3?
How is this ironic?
Enormity of the legs
What stands upon these enormous monuments is broken into pieces
–>dethroning of Ozymandias
What does the emphatic verb ‘shattered’ evoke in line 4?
Expand
Vivid imagery
Reflects extent to which the Pharaoh’s once authoritative reputation now lies as dust in the sand
What does the ambiguous verb ‘The hand that mocked them…’ imply in line 5?
Nature mocking Ozymandias after he spent his life mocking his subjects
How does the arrogant ‘Looks on my works, ye Mighty and despair!’ carry powerful irony?
Arrogance of ruler is contrasted brightly with the ruins of his empire
What effect does the alliterative’The lone and level sands stretch far away’ have as a last line?
How can you link this to Shelley?
Seemingly infinite sands represent Ozymandias’ rule and how he has faded into history as all rulers eventually will
Shelley- anti authoritarian
would’ve held this view point
–>believed in power to marginalised and oppressed
(ROMANTICISM)
How does Ozymandias carry tropes of Romanticism?
Focuses on hubristic quality of leaders
-that will eventually all merge together into the endless sands of history
–>will never win through oppression
-marginalised and oppressed deserve a voice
(idea of karma?)
