ozymandias Flashcards
‘i met a traveller from an antique land’
second hand recollection:
↳ shelley makes it clear that he didn’t see the story to show the unimportance of ozymandias
focus on: ‘antique’
↳ antique (as in old) suggests that ozymandias’ power is distant and forgotten
↳ antique (as in valued) emphasises the fact that his vast power inevitably disappeared and that time & nature are more powerful than ozymandias
‘two vast and trunkless legs of stone’
focus on: ‘trunkless’
L where the artery, nerves etc are, these are essential for life, so the fact that he is trunkless emphasises that his legacy didn’t ‘live’ on
L, ozymandias was a heartless ruler & had no sympathy for his people
‘a shattered visage lies’
adjective: ‘shattered’
L lost identity, ozymandias attempted to immortalise himself by building with stone, but nature was much more powerful
L broken in to small pieces, something small is unimportant, juxtaposition to ‘vast’
‘whose frown and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
focus on: ‘sneer’
L a sneer is a mocking smile, ramses didn’t take his people seriously & acted tyrannically rather than caring for his people as a ruler should
adjective: ‘wrinkled’
L wrinkled has connotations of an old person, his power was already slipping away as the statue was built
plosives: ‘cold command’
L plosives show how harshly ramses ruled, like an imitation of his instructions to his slaves
L the word cold contrasts to the hot environment in the desert, the statue may have been out of place from the start & was doomed to fall
conjunction: ‘and’
L shelley has immense negative emotions towards tyrannical leaders
‘well those passions read’
-ozymandias was desperate to be remembered but the sculptor was praised, art is everlasting
‘of that colossal wreck, (…) level sands stretch’
focus on ‘colossal wreck
L his colossal wreck has had no effect on the future, no legacy, no importance. clinging on to power is futile as everything will eventually ‘fall’ (highlights permanence)
focus on ‘level’
L, his colossal wreck has made no effect on his surroundings, ‘level’ has
connotations of stability so the stability of the surroundings of the statue show ozymandias’ unimportance in the world
structure
-sonnet, shows the king’s love for himself
-the sentence lengths get longer towards the middle and then decrease in length towards the end - shows build up and then fall of empire
-first line and a half up to the colon are narrator’s words, rest are the traveller’s words - creates a sense of mystery and legend
-iambic pentameter - represents the passing & power of time (one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable) mimics conversation
context in ozymandias
-written as warning to rulers who get too powerful
-shelley was a romantic- he believed nature is more powerful than man & was a pacifist
-ozymandias (rameses) was meant to symbolise king george Ill indirectly, king george was mentally unstable, unfit to rule, lost america
what did shelley say ozymandias represented?
permanence and how everything will eventually lose importance
