Ozymandias Flashcards
“I met a traveller from an antique land”
Frames the poem as a story to make it clear the narrator has only heard about the statue- emphasises how unimportant ozymandias is now
“Vast”, “trunkless”, “Stone”
Emphasises size and stature but also shows it is incomplete
“Stand in the desert”
Setting suggests an absence of life and vitality
“Shatter’d visage”
Ironic as even a powerful human can’t control the damaging effects of time
“Sneer cold of command”
Sculptor understood the arrogance of the ruler
“Survive”, “lifeless”
Having these on the same line hints how art can outlast human power but the ruined statue shows art can’t immortalise power
“The hand that mock’d them”
Mock can mean to ridicule or to create so shows the sculptor intended to make fun of ozymandias
“Kings of kings”, “ye mighty”
Arrogance
