Ozymandias: Percy Shelley (1818)

Question 1

‘Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair’

Answer 1

Despair!: ironically foreshadows what is to happen, the loss of power, forgotten, emotive language

‘Look on my works’: an ironically powerful imperative which contrasts with the reality of what has happened to the statue
+ foreshadows what is to happen

Question 2

‘shatter’d visage’

Answer 2

• metaphor

- a lack of confidence because of the destroyed power, the destroyed statue

Question 3

‘half sunk’

Answer 3

• the idea that although it has been years, the power has still not fully faded away
• it is difficult to destroy/get rid of negative power

Question 4

‘sunk’ ‘shattered’ ‘frown’ ‘sneer’

Answer 4

• negative lexical field

- makes it clear poem is an attack not a praise to the powerful

Question 5

Form and structure

Answer 5

• a mix of shakspearean and petrarchan sonnets
• rhyme scheme ABAB that fades towards the end- loss of power
• iambic pentameter
• enjambent: chaos

Question 6

Context

Answer 6

• the poet wrote in favour of atheism
• King George lll: possibly the inspiration of this poem
• Shelley believed he had to be overthrown