Ozymandias Flashcards
What is the purpose or plot to Ozymandias?
Ozymandias (Ramesses II) is a poem about the ruined statue of an ancient king in an empty desert. Ozymandias was a “cold command”-ing ruler of Egypt forcing slaves to build this once great statue.
Why is Ozymandias structured as just 14 lines?
A 14 line poem is a Sonnet (a love poem) this is because Ramesses II loved himself.
What does Percy Bysshe Shelly capture in his poems?
Shelly is a Romantic poet and tried to capture intense experiences and the power of nature within his poems
What is Romaticism?
a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual
Why does the poem Ozymandias challenge iambic pentameter?
Is doesn’t follow the norm of how a sonnet is written
daDum daDum
How was Shelly influenced by romanticism?
He believed in emotion rather than reason and was anti-monarchy
How is the statue depicted at the beginning?
- “two vast trunkless legs of stone”
trunkless= no torso
-“Half sunk, a shattered visage lies”
visage= face
-“and sneer of cold command”
What is written on the pedestal?
the turning point
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
How can the Ozymandias be seen as only powerful when he was alive?
- “nothing besides remains.”
- “colossal wreck”
How can nature be seen as powerful in this poem?
statue is destroyed over time by natural processes (weathering/erosion)…..
What quote(s) suggests the king is an oppressive ruler?
- “Stamped on these lifeless things,”
- “the hand that mocked and the heart that fed;”
What is the irony in Ozymandias?
Ozymandias’s works have crumbled and disappeared, his civilization is gone, all has been turned to dust by the impersonal, indiscriminate, destructive power of history. The ruined statue is now merely a monument to one man’s hubris, and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the passage of time
