Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Question 1

Loss of power - Ozymandias

Answer 1

structure of ozymandias represents the power and legacy he thought he would have, being made out of strong, impenetrable “stone”, which is now “half sunk” despite its “sneer of cold command”.
Symbolic of his loss of power over time and the impermenence of percieved power.

Question 2

Elipses - Ozymandias

Answer 2

“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . .”
- represents a gap in the narrative
- draws attention to the visual of “the shattered visage” - almost a shame in some ways to see the failures.

Question 3

Etymology of title - Ozymandias

Answer 3

‘ozy’ - air
‘mandias’ - to rule or to mandate
- king that ruled over every aspect of his subjects, including the air they breathed. Supported by his inflated ego - he described himself in his inscription as “king of kings”.

Question 4

Sheer size/emptiness - Ozymandias

Answer 4

“nothing beside remains”
the sheer size of the “Boundless and bare” and “lone and level sands” makes the “colossal wreck” of the statue seem insignificant in comparison. His surroundings are limitless (positive, growth) and immense (negative, loss of power)
- “Boundless and bare” - plosive b sounds to draw attention to the sheer size and emptiness
poignant

Question 5

Pitied - Ozymandias

Answer 5

Irony between his declaration of “look on my works, ye mighty, and despair” and his statue being a “colossal wreck”. (colossal - even as a wreck he has notable prescence)
He is now looked down upon almost, a fall from grace former rulers can experience. it is a “decay”

Question 6

Change in peace & place - Ozymandias

Answer 6

once ruled by a merciless king (“the hand that mocked them, the heart that fed” - shows he does have some care but only for his own aims and desires) but is now desolate and “bare”, emphasising the insignificant nature of power against the inevitability of time. Place is not permanent and will constantly be changing.

Question 7

Context - Ozymandias

Answer 7

• Shelley was a romatic poet
• He was somewhat of a radical, expelled from uni for writing about atheism - could be elluding to George III (the mad king)
• Ozymandias is another name for Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II
• Shelley wrote the sonnet after seeing a huge granite statue of Rameses II at the British Museum