Ozymandias - Percy Byshee Shelley Flashcards
what is the poem about
- narrator meets traveller who tells him about a statue standing in middle of desert
- statue of a king who ruled over a past civilisation. His face proud and arrogantly boasts about how powerful he is in an inscription on statue’s base
- however, statue fallen down and crumbled away so only ruins remain
describe the form
- sonnet
- volta at line 9
- doesn’t follow regular sonnet rhyme scheme,perhaps reflecting the way human power + structures can be destroyed
- uses iambic pentameter, but often disrupted
- second-hand account, distances reader from dead king
describe the sructure
narrator builds up image of statue by focusing on different parts of it in turn. Poem ends by describing enormous desert, which helps sum up insignificance of statue
describe the irony
- ruined stature can be seen as symbol for temporary nature of political power or human achievement
- use of irony reflects his hatred of oppression and his belief that it’s possible to overturn social and political order
“i met a traveller from an antique land”
Shelley frames poem as story to make clear that narrator hasn’t even seen statue, he’s only heard about it. Emphasises how unimportant Ozymandias is now
“vast” “trunkless” “stone”
emphasises size and stature but also shows that the statue is incomplete
“stand in the desert”
setting suggests an absence of life and vitality
“shatter’d visage”
ironic- even a powerful human can’t control the damaging effects of time
“sneer of cold command”
sculptor understood the arrogance of the ruler
“survive” “lifeless”
both on same line, hints how art can outlast human power, but the ruined statue shows that ultimately art can’t immortalise power
“the hand that mock’d them”
‘mock’ can mean to ridicule, or to create a likeness of something- perhaps sculptor intended his statue to make fun of Ozymandias
“king of kings” “ye Mighty”
arrogant and powerful- he even challenged other rulers
“despair!”
irony- he tells other rulers to “despair” because of size and grandeur of his “works”, but in fact they should despair because their power is temporary and ultimately unimportant, like his
“the decay Of that colossal wreck”
ruined statue shows how human achievements are insignificant compared to passing of time
“boundless and bare” “lone and level”
alliteration- emphasises feeling of empty space in surrounding desert
