Power & Conflict Poetry

Question 1

In Ozymandias what does the frown and “sneer of cold command” indicate about Ozymandias?

Answer 1

It indicates that the sculptor understood well the emotions (or “passions”) of the statue’s subject.

Question 2

What type of poem is Ozymandias?

Answer 2

A sonnet (14-line poem)

Question 3

What are some of the themes of Ozymandias?

Answer 3

beauty, expression, love, imagination, power of nature

Question 4

“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed” - Ozymandias

Answer 4

Double meaning - the hand could be Ozymandias who was a mocking leader, the sculptor who mocked Ozymandias when he made him with “sneer of cold command” or “wrinkled lip”.

Question 5

“ye mighty, and despair!” - Ozymandias

Answer 5

Ozymandias is upset that he is no longer worshiped and his memorials no longer stand.

Question 6

“I met a traveler”, “Who said” - Ozymandias

Answer 6

Says that it’s a story about someone else

Question 7

“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone”

Answer 7

Stone is meant to last forever, but the legs have fallen and are on their own - just like how Ozymandias feels

Question 8

“a shattered visage lies”

Answer 8

“shattered” can mean no longer strong
“visage” is his face in which has shattered.
Implies that Ozymandias is no longer powerful

Question 9

What does the regular rhythm show?

Answer 9

Ozymandias wants to show order, structure, and importance

Question 10

What theme is ‘London’?

Answer 10

Abuse of power, oppressed group, powerlessness of man, power of nature

Question 11

What do the people on the streets in London show?

Answer 11

• poverty
• Immoral behavior
• drunkenness
• lawlessness

Question 12

‘Charted Maps” - London

Answer 12

mapped out, owned, controlled

Question 13

“mark in every face I meet”

“marks of weakness, marks of woe” - London

Answer 13

everyone has depressed faces as he walks by.

There is no sense of happiness, even though the streets are charted.

Question 14

“In every cry of every man, In every infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban” - London

Answer 14

Repetitive use of the word ‘every’ to show that everyone is in despair. They’re all being effected, there’s no escape.

Question 15

“in every infant’s cry of fear” - London

Answer 15

They are born into it, no escape.

Question 16

“black’ning church” - London

Answer 16

a religious reference. The church seems dirty and corrupt. Normally people go to church to offer support, but it id doing nothing to help

Question 17

“soldier’s sigh” - London

Answer 17

the poem was written right after the French Revolution did away with the monarchy. Perhaps Blake is criticizing the way power is being handled

Question 18

“Blasts the new-born infants tear’s” - London

Answer 18

You would expect a child to be innocent, but the tear is not innocent. They were born on accident, probably by the “harlot’s curse” (prostitutes)

Question 19

“marriage hearse” - London

Answer 19

Oxymoron - marriage is meant to be a happy thing, and a hearse is an upsetting thing because it’s what you carry dead people in at funerals

Question 20

What is the themes of Storm on the Island?

Answer 20

Natural/ nature power
Fear and isolation
man’s relationship with nature

Question 21

Storm on the Island could be about a storm, but what else could it mean?

Answer 21

about the dangerous political wars that were being fought at the time the poem was written.

Question 22

“we are prepared: we build our houses squat”

Answer 22

this suggests that they try their best to be prepared because they know its coming. ‘squat’ means their house is small, but sturdy and reliable

Question 23

“this wizened earth has never troubled us”

Answer 23

personification

Question 24

“Which might prove company when it blows full blast:”

Answer 24

Blast: is enjambment. Personification, the wind gives them company because you can hear it. It lets the reader know the wind can be dangerous

Question 25

“forgetting that it pummels your house too”

Answer 25

it damages the housed that are meant to be squat and sturdy, but it also reassures you that you are alive.

Question 26

“exploding comfortably”

Answer 26

oxymoron

Question 27

“the flung spray hits”

Answer 27

flung suggests without care

Question 28

“spits like a tame cat turned savage”

Answer 28

There is a time when a cat is tame, like the ocean can be calm and peaceful, but when a storm comes, or something bad happens, within seconds a cat can turn savage, and the ocean can become deadly