OZYMANDIAS Flashcards
Give OZYMANDIAs quotations
"look on my works, ye mighty, and despair" "lone and level sands stretch far way" "sneer of cold command" "nothing beside remains" "boundless and bare"
“sneer of cold command”
this description draws attention to the arrogance and the monomaniacal character captured in the statue and the repetition of the harsh “c” sound is used in order to imitate the aggressive nature of Ramesses II.
“look on my works, ye mighty, and despair”
This is a deeply ironic statement as Ramesses II is directly addressing God yet he clearly doesn’t compare to God’s omnipotence. The poet uses a biblical references “King of kings” to suggest that Ramesses II thought no ruler could surpass him, not even God himself.
“lone and level sands stretch far away”
this is Shelley’s display that the natural world is infinite and out of the grasp of man’s control. The vast emptiness symbolises that there is nothing left but the sculptor’s artwork to be valued.
“nothing beside remains”
The statue is presented as isolated which is reinforced by the caesura which isolates the phrase. This amplifies the irony of Ozymandias’ bragging in his inscription as now there is nothing to display of his tyrannical rule.
“boundless and bare”
the reference here is to signify how all the vanity and achievements have been discarded into oblivion and the repetition of the “b” exaggerates this vastness of wasteland.
Explain the form and structure of OZYMANDIAS
- it is written in the from of a Petrarchan sonnet which is typical of a love poem therefore it implies that all powerful people love themselves or have a love for power
- the poem has an irregular form containing different elements of various sonnet forms at various sections which displays how power is constantly passing on to another
- this broken from of the sonnet by an irregular rhyme schemes and various different forms of sonnet can reflect to break down of the statue.
