Ozymandius Flashcards
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
1
Q
Name two key ideas
A
- man vs nature
- transient nature of power
- power of nature
2
Q
Explain two pieces of context
A
- Written during the Romantic period when poets displayed radical ideas opposing systems of power and authority
- Ozymandius was another name for Rameses II who was known for being a brutish leader
3
Q
What is the writers message
A
- Excessive pride will eventually lead to ones downfall and all political regimes will eventually follow this same pattern
4
Q
What poems can it be compared to
A
- London - power
- My Last Duchess - power
- The Prelude - nature + power
5
Q
What are the structural features
A
- Petrarchan sonnet = symbolise how people should break away from restricting traditions
- Alternating rhyme scheme
- Enjambment
- Caesura
- Volta = builds tension
6
Q
Half sunk a shattered visage lies
Whose frown
A
- sibilance
7
Q
Sneer of cold command
A
8
Q
mocked stamped
A
- aggressive imagery
9
Q
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair
A
- imperative
10
Q
King of kings
A
- repetition
11
Q
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
A
- imagery of emptiness
12
Q
Colossal wreck
A
13
Q
Boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away
A
- consonance
- semantic field of nothingness/emptiness
