‘Ozymandias’ and ‘My Last Duchess’

Question 1

Ozymandias - Context (5)

Answer 1

• Shelley was a romantic Poet
• Romanticism was a movement in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s
• Romantic poets believed in emotion rather than reason and particularly focused on the power of nature
• Shelley also disliked monarchies, absolute power and the oppression of ordinary people
• His radical political views were inspired by the events of the French Revolution, where the monarchy was overthrown

Question 2

What is Ozymandias about? (4)

Answer 2

• The narrator meets a traveller who tells him about a statue standing in the middle of the desert
• It’s the statue of a king who ruled over an ancient civilisation
• His face is proud and he arrogantly boasts about how powerful he is in an inscription on the statues base
• However. the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain

Question 3

My Last Duchess - Context (5)

Answer 3

• Browning was born in England but lived in Italy for many years
• He was fascinated by the Italian Renaissance (14th - 16th C) - a period in which the arts flourished
• The poem is based upon Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara
• Duke Alfonso’s wife, Lucrezia, died in suspicious circumstances - there were rumours that she was poisoned
• Hearing about this event probably inspired Browning to write this poem

Question 4

What is My Last Duchess About? (4)

Answer 4

• The Duke proudly points out the portrait of the Duchess (his former wife) to a visitor
• The Duke was angered by the Duchess’s flirtatious behaviour - she was friendly towards everyone and he was annoyed that she treated him just like anyone else
• He acted to stop the Duchess’s flirtatious behaviour, but he doesn’t say how he did this - there are hints that he had her murdered
• The Duke and his guest walk away from the painting and the reader discovers that the Duke’s visitor has come to arrange the Duke’s next marriage

Question 5

How do the poets use form to portray power?

Answer 5

Browning uses rhyming couplets to show the Duke’s desire for control but the enjambment suggests he gets carried away with his anger and passions
Shelley uses a sonnet form, however it doesn’t follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme, perhaps reflecting the way that human power and structures can be destroyed