Poems Flashcards
Ozymandias shelly beliefs
Strongly anti-monarchy,pacifist, Anti religion ,supported social justice.
Ozymandias context 2
What era was it is written in?
Who was the first reference to ?
Who arguably had an impact over shelleys poem
It was written in the Romantic era where many poets would reject institutions of power and use poetry to spread messages and political ideas that could be acessible to all.
First reference Ramess who remembered II his tyranny and military exploits.
King George III arguably has impact over Shelley’s poem, as his poem written during his reign’d was remembered for oppression and tyranny
“Shattered visage”
Colossal wreck
-imagery,creates a sense or irony as king who believed so strongly in his own superiority statue has now been destroyed by time.
Oxymoron -Colossal” can imply that something is impressive, and when twinned with the term “wreck”he mocks how nature ruins Ozymandias’ statue.
“I met a traveler from an antique land “
Ominsicent speaker ,Shelley opens his poem with the detached
narrative of a traveler to distance himself from the political messages of his poem. He is free to
comment on the monarchy or religion as he wishes.Also trivializes his reign
Wrinkled lip and sneer cold command
conjures someone looking in disgust , emphasizing kings-disregard for those he views inferior .This antipathy is which is paired with immense power enbales him to to torture and exploit those he rules.
Alteration of c to show show emotionless the ruler is.
“boundless and bare “
Uses letter B as plosive to emphasise the vastness and emptiness of the dessert.
Dessert suggests lifelessness and lack of power/culture.
Rhyme scheme and stanzas of ozymandias ?
The irregular rhyme scheme contrasts with the single stanza as the former suggests a lack of
power and control of the ruler, whereas the single stanza suggests order.
r, the irregular rhyme scheme breaks away from the sonnet form which enables Shelley
to imply how poetry and literature can defy tradition. demonstrating that conventions can be changed.
Ozymandias key themes
power of nature
Negative emotion pride
power of humans
futility
Ozymandias poems to compare
exposure context
He became a soldier and was killed in battle one a week before the armistice in 1918.His work expresses the true horror of war rather than him internalising it.
“Our brains ache ,the merciless iced east winds that knive us.
Nature is personified in a
sinister way to create
fear in the listener.knives”; pathetic fallacy enhances the sense that the weather is betraying (back-stabbing) the men.
exposure structure length of lines
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous
All lines are over 10 syllables mimicking the length of time soldiers are being exposed to these terrible conditions that will kill them
This use of asyndetic
listing creates a rushed,
panicked pace and
contrasts with the content
of the poem.
“Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army”
The personification of clouds coming from the east .
The verb massing suggests that there is more danger from the weather than there is from the german soldiers as it is armoring itself more than the enemies are
Pathetic fallacy of melancholy -reflecting the soldiers’ emotions also suggesting that nature is miserable itself and doesn’t want to attack the army but reluctantly feeling it has to do it to expel the horror of war from nature.
“All their eyes are ice
Uses a metaphor to refer here to the dead men frozen to death by the snow or the emotionally dead “burying-party” sent to remove them? That it could be either (or both) creates a powerful sense of how inescapable nature’s power is: no one can survive if nature chooses to kill us.
Structure and form
refrain
rhyme scheme
Para rhyme
Repetition of the line, “but nothing happens” creates circular structure implying there suffering is never ending.Its an anti climatic ending found in each stanza.
Repetitive rhyme scheme of ABBAC showing repetitive nature of nothing chnaging .
Para rhyme -nervous /knive us-gives a premeanent sense of being on edge ,soilders are denied the satisfaction of a full rhyme in same way they are denied the satisfaction of not having heightened senses
