Ozymandias - Context Flashcards
1
Q
who was ozymandias written by?
A
percy bysshe shelley
2
Q
when was ozymandias written?
A
in 1817, after hearing about how an Italian explorer had retrieved the statue from the desert
3
Q
percy bysshe shelley
A
- 1792-1822
- considered to be one of the most influential romantic poets of all time
- had a complicated love life and had children with two women - 2nd woman - mary shelley who wrote frankenstein
4
Q
what education did shelley have?
A
- well-educated
- went to Eaton - was bullied there, which led him ‘retreating into his imagination’
- went to Oxford - was expelled within a year for promoting atheist views
5
Q
how was shelley’s relationship with his parents?
A
- had a troubled relationship with his parents (especially for being expelled) particularly with his father, who was an MP -> may have led him to having negative views of authority figures
- parents rejected his beliefs
6
Q
what were shelley’s beliefs and what were they influenced by ?
A
- vegetarianism
- political radicalism
- sexual freedom
- influenced by the French revolution, where ordinary people overthrew the monarchy
7
Q
ozymandias
A
- the name of Rameses II of Egypt
- egyptian pharaoh - a god on Earth, head of the government, leader of an army
- ruled egypt from his teens to his 90s - one of the greatest pharaohs ever
- had many statues and structures built in his honour
- part of the statue was acquired by the british museum in the 1800s
- shelley wrote the poem in anticipation of it
8
Q
what is the poem about?
A
- the narrator meets a traveller who tells him about a statue standing in the middle of the desert
- it’s a statue of a king who ruled over a past civilisation. his face is proud and he arrogantly boasts about how powerful he is in an inscription on the statue’s base
- however, the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain
9
Q
what are the themes present in the poem?
A
- passage of time
- change and transformation
- negative emotions
