Ozymandias Flashcards
Form:
Sonnet- unified unlike the statue
- Octave in the first 9 lines
- Sestet last 6 lines
- Turning point line 9
- Doesn’t follow regular sonnet rhyme representing human power & structure can be destroyed
- Written in iambic pentameter which is often disrupted
- Second hand account which distances the reader from the king
Structure
Narrator describes the statue by focusing on different parts of it
-Poem ends by describing the “enormous desert” sums up the insignificance of the statue
Irony
Shelley use of irony is suggested through the ruler & his belief that it is possible to overturn social & political order
Language of power
Power is suggested through Ozymandias representing human power, his power is lost & is only due to the power of art.
Angry language
The tyranny of the ruler is suggested through aggressive language
Rhymes
- Start of the poem rhymes eg: “ sand, land, stand -command” give a sense of power & force.
- End of the poem rhymes eg: “ decay & away give a sense of loss, emptiness & finality
Enjambment
last 3 lines of the poem which mirrors the endless sand & the solidarity of the statue
Punctuation
Helps make the poem flow
Key points
-Poem is an extended metaphor- doesn’t matter how arrogant/proud a person may
Be nature & time will always have greater power & will always destroy them.
-Plosive alliteration: “ cold command”- adds to the sense that the pharaoh was an
Aggressive man
-Sentence length: “ nothing besides remains” the fact that three simple words stand alone reflect the idea of the statue being reduced to virtually nothing, isolated
Attitude, themes, ideas
- Even the mightiest will fall: Ozymandias thought his works would last forever and would be above everyone else’s. Not true. Nothing is left intact and his own statue is in ruins.
- You can’t beat time. Even a king dies and so will all the things he has built.
- Pride comes before a fall. Ozymandias’ boasts about his own greatness seem very hollow now.
- The power of art and words. The only thing that does last is part of the statue and the powerful words on the inscription.
Form:
- Dramatic monologue
- First person narrator speaks passionately and personally and also makes them feel as though they are sharing the journey
- The abab rhyme scheme in unbroken and seems to echo the relentless misery of the city
- the use of real time london setting enables the reader as though they are gaining first hand impression
Structure
-4 stanzas of 4 lines each, ( quatrains ) reflects the regular walking pace of the narrator
-The narrator presents images of deprived downtrodden people
- First two stanzas focuses on the people he sees and hears ( the misery )
-Third stanza focuses on the power of the riches, how the poor are sacrificed for the riches
“Chimney sweepers” is a emotive language for child labour
Last stanza focuses has a oxymoron and juxtaposes which is with the joy of marriage life is with the misery of death. Blake is suggesting that society has destroyed every good thing l in life and how the infants would be affected by the situation, also poverty is corrupting.
-Last line in each stanza tends to deliver a strong image which sums up the rest of the stanza
Language:
- Narrator uses rhetoric language to persuade you his point of view
- He uses powerful emotive words and images to portray the horror of the situation
- Conveys bleak views of rules and restrictions
Repetition
- ”In every” shows the scale of suffering how multiple people not just one are affected
- ” Charter’d shows the streets/rivers are controlled by those with power
- ”s” creates fear which emphasises hopelessness
- sibilant “s” slows reader down adds feeling of horror
Synaesthesia
“ The sigh of the hopeless soldier:
This confuses sight & sound , makes point more vivid
This understands us that soldiers disquiet and desperation is translate to death & destruction
KEY POINTS
The poem is an ironic look at misery in the greatest city of the worlds
ATTITUDES AND IDEAS:
Blake’s speaker has a very negative view of the city. For Blake, the conditions faced by people caused them to decay physically, morally and spiritually.
ANGER: Narrator uses emotive language and repetition to portray his anger, “black’ning church and “ palace walls” to show how he is also angry at the people in power who could do something to change but don’t
HOPELESSNESS: People are also to blame because they are not moving forward they are trapped in there own attitude
Form
- Epic poem because it’s written in iambic pentameter to give consistent pace
- Epic poem forms the revelations of the power of nature
- First person style allows the reader to directly engage with the experience
- Sounds personal & describes turning point
- The use of blank verse & unrhymed verse makes it important & serious
Structure
- Continuous stanza 44 lines written in blank verse suggests boys journey is continuous, also forms this as a story &one sided conversation
- 10 syllables of 5 sets of unstressed, stressed syllables
- 3 main sections, first tone is fairly light & carefree
- Distinct change when the mountains appear tone becomes darker & fearful
- final section reflects on how the experience changed him
Language: Beautiful
-Poem, begins with, pastoral, words like “ pleasure,glittering, sparkling, lustily”
Language changes of dramatic language once threatened “black, struck, dim, solitude” this reflects to perspective of nature
As his mindset changes from excitement & adventure to fear &guilt, which makes it intense.
Feelings & attitudes
Wordsworth does not view humanity as having authority over nature
CONFIDENCE: Narrator feels comfortable and in control at first but his confidence and the world around him is shaken by this one event
FEAR: Nature is shown to be more powerful than human being narrator is left with the feeling of being awe and respectful to nature but is scraed
REFLECTION: Poem ends with the narrator reflecting on how hes been changed by this event, his thoughts and dreams are still troubled
Form
-Dramatic monologue- only one speaker speaks
-Rhyming couplets suggests- Dukes desire for control because conversation is one sided also has a controlled restrained tone-shows his character, controls women’s
- Written in iambic pentameter
- Enjambment- makes poem flow & be uninterrupted mimics natural speech also suggests he gets carried away with his passion & anger- this
Creates a picture of a unstable character
Punctuation/caesuras - character is calculating/manipulating listener he controls what he says and what the listener hears
Structure
One long stanza -Long speech, pretending to be a conversation shows
Self obsession, controlling, powerful, dominance
Poem is framed by the duke’s visit to the gallery
Poem builds towards a kind of confession before the identity of the visitor Is revealed
Power & objectification
- The duke felt the need to have power & control over the Duchess
- He saw her as another of his possessions to be collected & admired
