Ozymandius Flashcards
what is the context for Ozymandias ?
- anti-monarchy
- supported social justice
- wanted to end oppression of ordinary people, inspired by french revolution
- historical influences, Ramesses II - Egyptian Pharoah
- warning against arrogance
- ## rejection of institutional power
what is the perspective of Ozymandias and how is it used for effect ?
- 1st person, speaker is never revealed, omniscient speaker
- ‘I’ is only used once - disconnects speaker from Shelley, as he was attempting to impart a political message through his work
what is the rhyme scheme in Ozymandias and how is it used for effect ?
- irregular rhyme scheme, contrasts with singular stanza, lack of power and control of the ruler whereas the stanza suggests control
what is the structure in Ozymandias and how is it used for effect ?
- sonnet
- traditionally love poems, Shelley selecting the statue as the focus could be argued that he is making it an object of love & respect
- Shelley blends the Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms to reflect the theme of broken structures — like the shattered statue.
- irregular rhyme scheme breaks away from the sonnet - showing how new power can break through
- Shelley uses the sonnet – a form often linked to permanence and beauty – to ironically show how even great empires crumble and fade.
‘boundless and bare’ ‘ lone and level’ - Ozymandias - human power & natures power
- uses alliteration to demonstrate the vast unending power of the desert and to contrast & belittle the limited power of man
- vast and powerful extent of nature
- ability to outlive all other forms of power + deem them insignificant by comparison
- desert is also vast, monotonous & featureless
‘colossal wreck’ - Ozymandias - human power & natures power
- statue represents human power
- king tries to evade death and cement himself in history
- colossal stripped of power, yet desert around it remains endless
how is consonance used for effect in Ozymandias and how is it used for effect ?
‘cold commands’
- repetition of harsh ‘c’ reflects the callous lack of compassion the king had for his people, oppressive rule
- sounds help portray him as aggressive and callous- connotes cruelty
- also suggests a use of power for military aims without any interference from empathy & compassion
CONTEXT:
- Shelley is anti-violence and against military exploits
- disapproves of military campaigns
why is the poem Ozymandias displayed as an allegory ?
- insignificant nature of human power
- Shelly uses Ozymandias as a representation of king George III & all figures of power
- plays with literal and metaphorical to create an overwhelming sense of irony surrounding fall of the kings influence
‘shattered visage’ - irony - king believed strongly in his power & superiority, yet statue is now forgotten and destroyed by time
- the transient & insignificant nature of human power is a key message
- it was this power that he wanted to reform and reassign in order to better structure a corrupt industrializing society
how is the setting of the desert in Ozymandias used for effect ?
- use of the desert strips him of his legacy
- land surrounding his statue is a featureless wasteland
- emptiness of desert is symbolic of how his reign was pointless & insignificant as he’s been forgotten by history
- nature and time took over
- sand is associated with time
‘sand’ - nature will always prevail - time is more powerful than man
‘look on my words’ - Ozymandias
- he has no legacy left despite his commands
- irony, Ramesses hoped to expand power and influence in Egypt, but now its just a featureless desert and ‘antique land’
‘wrinkled/shattered/frown/sunk/sneer’ - Ozymandias - power & pride
- negative semantic field
- aim to make the reader more receptive to ideas about corruption of power when paired with a negative tone
- speaker criticizing Ozymandias and all he represents, including his power & pride
- those in power are deluded in their belief of the supremacy of their power
‘sneer’ ‘cold’ ‘mock’d’ - Ozymandias
- personification
- king is confident his legacy and his power will remain throughout history
- the speaker sees that the statue, and therefore the kings legacy is destroyed
- dramatic irony
‘wrinkled lip’
‘wrinkled lip’ conjures the image of someone grimacing in disgust and contempt
- displaying the king’s disregard for his subjects, viewing them as inferior and below him.
- antipathy is then paired with immense power which enables him to exploit and torture the people he rules with no empathy or remorse.
- Shelley can use this to show the danger of a single individual having unlimited power invested in them (be it political or religious), as it enables them to see all other people as inferior and thus derive an ability to oppress them.
