Poetry Anthology - Ozymandias Flashcards
(12 cards)
Key themes
Power
Passing of time
Nature
Structure
Sonnet form mainly there but broken up - reflects brokenness of the statue due to corruption of power
Iambic pentameter - rigid structure to criticise power
Key quotes (8)
‘I met a traveller’
‘Stand in the desert’
‘Wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings’
‘Ye mighty and despair’
‘Round the decay’
‘Colossal wreck’
‘Lone and level sands stretch far away’
Analyse ‘I met a traveller’
First line
Frames the poem as a story
Suggests that the statue is so unimportant not even the narrator has seen it
Analyse ‘stand in the desert’
The setting suggests absence of life and vitality
Analyse ‘wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
Negative impression of the statue - emphasises consequences of the abuse of power
Analyse ‘my name is ozymandias, king of kings’
Sense of arrogance - superlative statement
Becomes too powerful and misuses it
Analyse ‘ye mighty and despair’
Irony
- he tells other rulers to ‘despair’ him because of the size and grandeur of his works
- In fact, they should despair because their power is temporary and they are unimportant
Analyse ‘round the decay’
Connotations of death/mould
Nature is punishing him - emphasis that power is futile
Analyse ‘colossal wreck’
The ruined statue shows how human achievements are insignificant compared to the passing of time
Conflict between nature and human power
Analyse ‘lone and level sands stretch far away’
The desert is vast and lives longer than the statue
Emphasises the insignificance of ozymandias compared to nature
Context
Romantic poet - believed in the power of nature and freedom of people
About Rameses II - he built statues of himself and saw himself as the greatest king of all time
Written at a time of great social change - French rebellions and Industrial Revolution
