ozymandias Flashcards
what are the 3 big ideas?
power of humans
power of nature
negative emotions- pride
what is the form?
A sonnet that has a volta at line 9 like a petrarchan sonnet. Doesn’t follow regular rhyme scheme maybe reflecting the way that human power and structures can be destroyed. Uses iambic pentameter but also often disrupted. Second hand account which distances reader even further from the dead king.
What is the significance of a petrarchan sonnet?
Introduce a problem, express a desire, reflect on reality, or otherwise present a situation that causes doubt or a conflict within the speaker’s soul and inside an animal and object in the story.
What is the significance of a sonnet?
Sonnets usually feature two contrasting characters, events, beliefs or emotions. Poets use the sonnet form to examine the tension that exists between the two elements.
How is irony portrayed?
There’s nothing left to show for the ruler’s arrogant boasting or his great civilisation. The ruined statue can be seen as a symbol for the temporary nature of politcical power or human achievement. Reflects on Shelly’s hatred of oppression and his belief that it is possible to overrun social and political order.
Context about shelly?
Was expelled from oxford for promoting atheism.
Was a romantic poet where they belived emotion over reason
Came from a wealthy family
Married someone in a lower class so he knew the struggles that they went through and how they were being treated.
Was inspired by the french revolution where the monarchy was overthrown.
Context about Ramasees
Ramasees 11 was a pharoh known to the Greeks by the name Ozymandias. In 1817, news broke that archeologists had discovered fragments of a funereal statue of Ramesses II and intended to send the pieces to the British museum.
Ozlum= breath or air
mandate= to rule
so his name implies power
‘boundless and bare’
Alliteration used to empahasise how forgotten the statue is as it draws our attention to how empty everything else is in the desert.
Also uses the letter B as a plosive to emphasise the vastness snd sheer power of this otherwise desolate desert
What the is significance of a plosive?
When used repeatedly is to create a verbal reflection of events, items or emotions which have a harsh feel.
‘Colossal wreck’
Metaphor- doesn’t only reference the statue but also oymandias’ broken ego.
His arrogance and ego being broken down, his heirarchy juxtaposes the flat sand that hasn’t been disrupted - abuse of power/ power of nature
Shelly uses imagery to get the point that nothing of ozymandias’ is left and even if there is it’s in a thousand pieces.
Human achievements are insignificant to the passing of time
extras?
The ruined statue shows human achivements are insignificant compared to the passing of time. The oxymoron here is used to emphaisise that his work didn’t last long and shows the scale of destruction.
‘Trunkless legs’
he held himself upon a pedestal like a God but his power was only transient he no longer holds any importance- statue is beig eaten by the desert and time.
Emphasises size and stature but also shows that the statue is incomplete
‘Shattered visage’
Suggests that the staue is no longer recogniseable= no longer has any purpose
Adj shatters highlightd that we can’t see him- his power is broken, arrogant, repect gone.
Ironic- even a powerful human can’t conquer the damaging effects of time
