Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Question 1

When was it written?

Answer 1

1818

Question 2

What is significant about the name, ‘Ozymandias’?

Answer 2

Ancient Greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses II

Question 3

What is the first line?

Answer 3

‘I met a traveller from an antique land’

Question 4

What technique is it written as?

Answer 4

A frame narrative

Question 5

What does the line ‘“My name is Ozymandias, kings of kings”’ symbolise?

Answer 5

Napolean Bonaparte

Question 6

What language feature is ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!’

Answer 6

Imperative ('Look') which signifies the dominance.
Oxymoron ('Mighty' and 'despair!')
Posessive pronoun ('my')

Question 7

Significance of ‘The lone and level sands’

Answer 7

It is equal. The tyranny has been brought down

^^^^This is in the LAST line of the sonnet

Question 8

What is there a semantic field of?

Answer 8

Power and decline

Question 9

Language features: ‘Nothing beside remains’

Answer 9

Declarative - punctures his arrogance.

Question 10

What is significant about the poem being structured as a frame narrative?

Answer 10

Makes it less dominant, less impressive - question the realism of it too. It’s like a rumour.

Question 11

Where is juxtaposition used, and what is the effect?

Answer 11

‘Mighty and despair’ vs ‘Nothing beside remains’ or ‘Vast and trunkless’

• creates irony

Question 12

What type of poem is this?

Answer 12

A sonnet.

^^ 10 syllables per line, 14 lines.

Question 13

What does the statue symbolise?

Answer 13

The decay of Ancient Egypt