Power & Conflict

Question 1

Give 7 quotes for Ozymandias

Answer 1

• TIME - I met a traveller from an antique land
• DETERIORATION - Half sunk, a shattered visage lies
• TYRANT - sneer of cold command
• STATUS - On the pedestal these words appear:
• ARROGANT - My name is Ozymandias, king of kings
• IRONY - Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!
• colossal wreck
• EMPTY - lone and level sands

Question 2

Ozymandias - Quote Analysis

“lone and level sands”

Answer 2

• Connotes feelings of emptiness - nobody is left to care about him or his statue
• Contrast between the lone and level sands surrounding the colossal wreck highlights and symbolises how minor and temporary his power is compared to the power of time

Question 3

Ozymandias - Quote Analysis

“Half sunk, a shattered visage lies”

Answer 3

“Shattered visage” emphasises the statue’s destruction as one of the most important features of the statue (the face) has been destroyed

Question 4

Ozymandias

How is Ozymandias ironic?

Answer 4

He arrogantly boasts of his “works”, when all that remains is a “colossal wreck”, showing that his power was ultimately temporary

Question 5

What can we say about the rhyming scheme of Ozymandias?

Answer 5

The Rhyme scheme is irregular, perhaps symbolic of the broken statue itself, no longer perfect.

Question 6

What is the poem ‘London’ about?

Answer 6

• ‘London’ describes a journey around London at a time when there was poverty, child labour and a horrific war with France
• It offers a glimpse of what the speaker sees as terrible conditions faced by the inhabitants of the city

Question 7

Quotes for ‘London’

Answer 7

• “I wander through each chartered street”
• “chartered Thames”
• “marks of weakness, marks of woe”
• “mind-forged manacles”
• “chimney sweeper’s cry”