Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley Flashcards
‘Two…
vast and trunkless legs of stone’ - The use of the adjective ‘vast’ reflects the supremacy of Ramesses II. However, it is sharply juxtaposed with ‘trunkless which deconstructs his grandeur and suggests that the power of Ozymandias has faded in history; as well as, his reign and foundation of his empire has collapsed.
‘Half…
sunk, a shattered visage lies’ - Use of sibilance reinforces the phantom-like existence of Ozymandias who is half-remembered by the history. The ‘shattered visage’ of Ozymandias portrays an emotionless persona of whose monarchy was transient.
‘sneer…
of cold command’ - Powerful descriptive diction to immortalise the historical presence of a conceited king. The ‘c’ alliteration also reinforces his dictatorship as his command has undoubtedly restricted his subjects to the extent that they did not have the temerity to cause a coup d’etat.
‘The hand…
that mocked them, and the heart that fed’ - The noun hand is seen as a synecdoche of the unknown sculptor who has captured the egotistic passions of Ramesses II so as to subtly mock his empirical rule by condemning him. Similarly, Shelley’s purpose could be to ridicule the self-centred nature of Ozymandias and he also uses the statue as a poetic vehicle to explore ideas about the longevity of both the work of the art and the reign of the tyrant. The metaphorical diction ‘heart that fed’ indicates to what extent the sculptor has successfully captivated the tyrannical emotions of Ozymandias and how he has sculpted the statue with care and devotion.
‘king…
of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty and despair’ - Shelley uses King of Kings so as to allude to the political grandeur and dictatorship of Ramesses II. The imperative verb look the further reinforces his commanding nature. Shelley also shows the king’s admiration and conceit towards his political achievement in ‘works’ by thus creating an echo of political hubris. capitalisation of ‘Mighty’ which is synonymous of King Ramesses the Great therefore deifying his representation. The archaic word ‘ye’ contributes to Shelley’s old fashioned style of writing.
‘Round the…
decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare’ - the powerful word ‘decay’ reflects the erosive force of time and the collapse of Ozymandias’s empire. Just like his body physically decayed, similarly, the impermanence of his statue (as well as his fame as a tyrant) have partly faded in history. ‘colossal wreck’ is a metaphorical representation of the decay of the king’s reign in Egypt. Shelley also uses the significant word ‘wreck’ so as to suggest how the statue, which is a work of art, has eroded into a fragmented entity with no identity. the plosive sound ‘b’ in ‘boundless and bare’ creates a paradoxical imagery of a king who was once powerful and ‘boundless’ and yet his power is deconstructed to ‘bare’, which also shows that king could not take his empire with him after death; thus, reinforcing the transience of his political regime. Shelley also creates textual cohesion throughout the poem as the word ‘bare’ is linked to the barren land of Egypt in the setting of the ‘desert’
‘stamped…
on these lifeless things’ - the active verb ‘stamped’ pictures Ozymandias’s authority as he has ruled with an iron fist. Yet, the adjective ‘lifeless’ reminds the reader of not only the barren landscape of Egypt and no trace of the civilisation that spawned on the statue; but it also reiterates the idea that even the mightiest has fallen and the brevity of his sovereignty has disempowered his representation
Context
Ozymandias is an ancient Greek name for Ramesses II. Shelley also disliked monarchies, absolute power and oppression of ordinary people. His radial views on the topic are reflected in this poem and are inspired by events in the French Revolution where the monarchy was overthrown.
Form/Structure
The poem is a sonnet with a volta in line 9 like a Petrarchan sonnet. However, it doesn’t follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme perhaps reflecting the way human power and structures can be destroyed. The narrator builds up an image of the statue by focussing on different parts of it in turn. The poem also ends by describing the enormous desert which highlights the insignificance of the statue and how it has been disregarded.
