Ozymandias

Question 1

Author

Answer 1

Shelley

Question 2

Why was the poem written?

Answer 2

Competition w a friend
He won

Question 3

What era?

Answer 3

Romantic/Victorian

Question 4

Purposes?

Answer 4

Power of art/Critique of tyranny – perhaps linking to Napoleon/power of time/transient nature of human power

Question 5

Title anal.

Answer 5

Ancient Greek name for Rameses II. Greeks invented democracy. Highlights his tyranny.

Question 6

Opening line (quote)

Answer 6

“I met a traveller from an antique land / Who said:”

Question 7

Opening line (anal.)

Answer 7

“I met a traveller from an antique land / Who said:”
Distances himself from the criticism of society he is about to make – perhaps out of fear of censorship?
Idea of a “traveller” – someone who has seen the world and perhaps can make better, more balanced judgements about society?
“Antique” – delicate, expensive (positive connotations); OR old and outdated, perhaps like monarchy?

Question 8

Technique 1 (quote)

Answer 8

“a shattered visage”

Question 9

Technique 1 (anal.)

Answer 9

“a shattered visage”
the illusion of his power has crumbled and been destroyed.
“visage” – his carefully procured image has been destroyed. [Egyptian obsession with appearance?]

Question 10

Technique 2 (quote)

Answer 10

“which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things”

Question 11

Technique 2 (anal.)

Answer 11

“which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things”:
the sculptor’s work (AND INTENTIONS/MESSAGE (shown in the “frown / And wrinkled lip, and sneer” presenting the Pharoh as evil)) outlives the tyrant himself, and his legacy.
“stamped” has connotations of violence – like the violent “hand” that Ozymandias ruled with.
“Lifeless” – the statue is lifeless, so is the land surrounding it (this is really old!! – it was all futile; a product of the FLEETING NATURE OF HUMAN POWER), sculptor has no pride in his work as the art has been commissioned by a ruler with purposes he does not believe in.
Sculptor represents the feelings of the common people – does Shelley think he represents the common man?

Question 12

Ending (two quotes)

Answer 12

“that colossal wreck”, “lone and level sands stretch far away”

Question 13

Ending (anal.)

Answer 13

“colossal wreck”
is this how he thinks society in its current state will be remembered?,

“lone and level sands stretch far away”
this society is LONG gone, it has failed (because of its hierarchy), and FLEETING NATURE/TRANSCIENCE OF HUMAN POWER.
“level” – we are supposed to all be equal, nature has levelled it out.

Question 14

Form anal.

Answer 14

Petrarchan sonnet form (but with different rhymescheme).
Sonnets frequently used for love poems (legacy of literacy and the power of literacy), but this has been twisted and distorted to show the twisted nature of Ozymandias’ power.
Artificial and constructed form – like the statue.

Question 15

Structure anal.

Answer 15

Line 10 – “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings” is 11 syllables long.
Shelley breaks the iambic pentameter that has been used when Ozymandias directly speaks.
Iambic pentameter in the English literary tradition often communicates a character’s moral virtuosity.
This break shows that Ozymandias is NOT morally good!! (but the traveller is and can be trusted by the reader)