Shelley

Question 1

What did Shelley say about the French Revolution

Answer 1

‘the master theme of the epoch in which we live’

Question 2

How did Shelley come to write Ozymandias

Answer 2

it was the result of a sonnet competition with his friend Horace smith in 1817

Question 3

What meter is Ozymandias written in and what effect does this have

Answer 3

Written in Iambic pentameter, gives poem a regular sound

Question 4

What form does Shelley use in Ozymandias

Answer 4

A sonnet

Both a mixture of Petrarchan and Shakespearian sonnet

Question 5

How does Shelley use both the Petrarchan and Shakespearian sonnet in Ozymandias

Answer 5

It is Petrarchan in that the poem is structured as a group of eight lines (octave) and a group of six lines (the sestet)
Initially Shakesperian rhyme scheme

Question 6

What langauge does Shelley use to describe the dilapidated state of the statue

Answer 6

’ colossal wreck’
‘decay’
‘boundless and bare’

Question 7

What is the single metaphor Ozymandias is devoted to

Answer 7

A ruined statue in a dessert wasteland

Question 8

How is Ozymandias a veiled condemnation of the English government under King George III

Answer 8

Shelley focus on decay as the ultimate destiny of an authoritanian rule was an oblique warning that Britain could expect the same if it did not change its ways

Question 9

What did Shelley think about monarchy

Answer 9

Abhored oppressive monarchical rule and favoured revolution to overthrow it

Question 10

Why is the power of words and art a key theme in Ozymandias

Answer 10

The only thing that remains in the end is part of the statue and the powerful words upon its inscription

Question 11

Why does Shelleys theme of the tranicince of power ironically not apply to Ozymandias

Answer 11

Ozymandias/Ramases II remains perhaps the most famous of Eygpitian Pharos
After thousands of years he continues to intrigue historians, archeologists and plenty of other scholars alike.

Question 12

What is the setting of Ozymandias

Answer 12

begins with a strange encounter between the speaker and a traveler from an “antique land”
then set in Egypt

Question 13

Name some Key themes of Ozymandias

Answer 13

Transcience
Pride
Art and Culture
Man and the natural world

Question 14

What was the result of Shelley’s political commitment

Answer 14

Series of angry political poems comdeming the arrogance of power

Question 15

What is line 8 an allusion to

Answer 15

The Peterloo Masscre
a people starved and stabbed in the untilled field”
vividly alliterative line - seems to mirror the sound of the troops swords taking human life in the infamous massacre

Question 16

How is George III described in England in 1819

Answer 16

“old, mad, blind, despised, and dying.”
despised – something considered worthless;
hapless

Question 17

What form is employed in England in 1819

Answer 17

A sonnet
first 6 lines deal with England rulers, remaining 8 with everyone else
Petrachan form disregarded by rhyme scheme

Question 18

Where does the volta occur In England in 1819

Answer 18

end of line 12/ start of line 13 when speaks of a ‘ glorious phantom’

Question 19

What is the effect of the vivid and passionate language in 1819

Answer 19

Shows how deeply Shelleys feelings are involved

Question 20

What is the tone of 1819

Answer 20

bitter and distainful

Question 21

What is the effects of describing the ruling classes as blood sucking leeches who are mainly paricites on the people in 1819

Answer 21

furious metaphor leaves no doubt about Shelleys feelings on the state of his nation
indulges in hyperbole

Question 22

What is the effect of using an unconventionally structured sonnet in 1819

Answer 22

sonnets structure is out of joint- just as poet proclaims england to be

Question 23

What is intresting about the form of Ode to the West Wind

Answer 23

an ode
a sonnet
each canto 14 lines suspiciously like english sonnet
form creates unity between prestigious Italian rhyme scheme and famous style of english sonnet writing

Question 24

What happens in Ode to West Wind

Answer 24

Lyrical poem that addresses the west wind as a powerful force and asks it to scatter the poets words throughout the world.

Question 25

Some themes of West Wind

Answer 25

Nature
mortality
Language and communication
irresistable power
Imagination

Question 26

What is the rhyme scheme of Ode to west wind

Answer 26

Terza Rima - lines in groups of 3 e.g ABA BCB CDC

Question 27

What 3 sections is an ode generally divided into

Answer 27

strophe, antistrope and epode

Question 28

What kind of imagrey does shelley use in ode

Answer 28

Visual, Auditory and kinetic

Question 29

Why was Shelley expelled from Oxford in 1811

Answer 29

For writing, with his friend, a pamphlet called The Necessity of Atheism

Question 30

Who has Donald Reinman said were Shelleys ideal figures

Answer 30

Socrates and Jesus
because they confronted the full power of social injustice and . . . chose martyrdom over either flight or violent resist- ance.”

Question 31

England in 1819 begins with a torrent of what

Answer 31

abuse

Question 32

what does Shelley do to show the importance of imagination in his important essay a defence of poetry

Answer 32

argues that poetry brings about moral good. Poetry, Shelley argues, exercises and expands the imagination, and the imagination is the source of sympathy, compassion, and love, which rest on the ability to project oneself into the position of another person.