Ozymandias

Question 1

Context
Structure / form
Message

Answer 1

Percy Bysshe Shelley -
Part of romantic poets - capturing intense emotions. usually around power of nature.
Romantic poetss believed emotions came above logic (heart above head).
Structure/form -
The poem is a sonnet, with a Volta (turning point) at line 9. It doesn’t follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme, possibly reflecting the broken proper in the poem.
The narrator builds an image of the statue by focusing on the different parts. The poem describes the enormous desert, summing up the insignificance of the statue.

Question 2

Quotation 1 ~ “ozymandias”

Answer 2

“Ozymandias”
- “ozy” (Greek) “to breathe” or “air”
- “mandias” (Greek) “to rule”
May link to the fact that the leader rules everything, even nature, or in addition, they rule absolutely nothing.

Question 3

Quotation 2 ~ “trunkless legs”

Answer 3

“Trunk less legs”

• no torso / no body
• ruined or broken
• not in full form but the impact is still vast

Question 4

Quotation 3 ~ “shattered visage”

Answer 4

“Shattered visage”

• “visage” is a face
• “shattered” links to the fact the power could be broken, and is no longer there.

Question 5

Quotation 4 ~ “which yet survive”

Answer 5

“Which yet survive”

• the art still lives on
• metaphorical impact is still there, where as the physical is not there any longer.

Question 6

Quotation 5 ~ “Look on my works”

Answer 6

“Look on my works”

• he wants them to feels as if people can not recreate what he has worked on
• he wants to show everything off