Ozymandias Flashcards
What form is the poem in
Sonnet
Hubris
Excessive pride and belief in one’s self
What is a sonnet
A poem of 14 lines that follows a strict rhyming scheme and is usually about romance
When was it made
1818
Who wrote it
Percy B Shelley wrote it
Meter
Loose iambic pentameter
Which ancient king is it based on
Ramses II
Was ozymandius kind?
He was thought to be a very cruel and tyrannical king
How long did he rule for?
66 years
‘I am Ozymandius
King of kings’
The use of sonnet
To mirror Ozymandias’s egotistical love for himself
Advantage of rhyme scheme
In Ozymandias, Shelley uses a very different scheme: ABAB-ACDC-EDE-FDF. In some cases these are are slant rhymes—“appear”/“despair”—and resist detection. This scheme, with its less memorable rhymes, supports the poem’s theme of inevitable oblivion: just as every person will be forgotten, so will every work of poetry
The use of enjambment
The enjambment suddenly brings elements of the sculptor’s work into the present, emphasizing that while Ozymandias is long dead and his statue fallen, his emotions still live on.
Decrepit
Broken or unkept
Crypt
Underground
