Ozymandias Revision Flashcards
’‘____ of cold command’’
'’sneer of cold command’’
-shows Ozymandias was a cruel leader. It seemed he abused his power as ruler the noun ‘sneer’ suggests a contemptuous attitude towards his subjects.
The alliteration of ‘cold command’ creates a hard,clipped sound reflecting a brutish and harsh ruler
context-Percy Bysshe Shelley lived and wrote at the start of the 19th century,when democracy was much more limited than it is today and abuse of power was common.Shelly was a radical for his time and this poem could be seen as a criticism of rulers.Even 200 hundred years later Shelley’s message has relevance as our world still has leaders who openly abuse their power today.
'’Look on my ____, ye Mighty, and ________!’’
'’Look on my work, ye Mighty, and despair!’’
-Ozymandias clearly valued his power and this is seen in the imperative verb at the start of the line ‘look’, this verb shows his arrogance and control as he commands the world and the reader, to admire his statues.
The monosyllabic words and the exclamatory sentence gives the line hard-hitting power.Interestingly, this is an example of propaganda; Ozymandias controls his people through intimidation and assertions
'’Nothing ______remains’’
‘Nothing besides remains’’
-This line ironically contrasts with the previous line with its hyperbolic arrogant certainty (‘look on my work’).The simple definitive statement ‘Nothing beside remains’ undercuts all of Ozymandias grand claims.It informs us clearly that we are all mortal; that the power of nature and time will completely erode our lives and our achievements. The word ‘nothing’ is absolute, allowing Ozymandias not one shred of the control that he used to enjoy.
'’The lone and level sands stretch far away’’
Time has destroyed Ozymandias statue and legacy and we are given a potent final image of the vastness and hostility of the desert with the line ‘The lone and level sands far away’ This final line of the sonnet works as a powerful conclusion to illustrate the power of time and nature, which will continue long after Ozymandias statue has completely disintegrates to nothing
The alliteration of the quote highlights the great expanse of the unfriendly desert and makes us realise how inconsequential we are in the scheme of the universe. The adjective ‘level’ is interesting.The winds have blown the desert sands flat and this could symbolise the idea that all men are equal in death.
context- Shelley could perhaps be referring here to the recent defeat of Napoleon, the French emperor viewed by British society as a tyrant; Shelly was highlighting the loss of power of one who was once so mighty.
'’Sculptor’’
Shelley refers to the ‘‘sculptor’’, the artist who created the statue and, in doing so, he perhaps suggests that mankind is not entirely weak. Shelley is also telling us that, though we may die, art does survives.The words at the bottom of the statue are still clear to read-perhaps Shelley is telling us that the words do have the power to survive generations, even if man does die and memories do fade.And Ozymandias legacy of a smashed statue-poor as this is- would not even be this without the skill of the ‘sculptor.
So the poem does not completely show the dominance of nature and time over man; we can survive through our creativity.
What is the poem about?
The narrator meets a traveller who tells him about a statue standing in the middle of the desert.
it’s a statue of a king who ruled over a past civilisation. His face is proud and he arrogantly boasts about how powerful he is in an inscription on the statue’s base. However, the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain
Describe the form of the poem?
The poem is a sonnet, with a turning-point (volta) at line 9 like a Petrarchan sonnet. but is doesn’t follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme, perhaps reflecting the way that human power and structures can be destroyed.It uses iambic pentameter, but this is also often disrupted. The story is a second-hand account, which distances the reader even further from the dead king.
What are the feelings and attitudes in the poem?
PRIDE-the RULER WAS PROUD OF WHAT HE’D ACHIEVED
ARROGANCE-The inscription shows that the ruler believed that he was the most powerful ruler in the land
POWER-humans civilisations and achievements are insignificant compared to the passing of time
Art- has the power to preserve elements of human existence, but it is also only temporary.
