ozymandias

ozymandias

Themes
1. those in power are deluded in their belief that there power is supreme and invincible
2. power does not last
percy shelley
1. 1792-1822
2. came from a wealthy family
3. drowned at sea at the age of 29
4. was not successful during his own life time
5. wrote when king george the third was on the throne
  1. thought of as the insperation of this poem
6. second genaration of romantic poets
  1. dislike of urban life
  2. love of the supernatural
  3. use of everyday language
  4. against religion and political control
7. against voilence and war
literal meaning of the poem
1. They met a traveller from a old land who saw two stone legs standing in the desert
  1. near the legs on the sand is the head of the statue and the head is shattered and cracked. Got a nasty powerful look on its face
  2. at the foot of the statue engraved is 'my name is ozymandias king of kings; look on my works, ye mighty and despair'
    1. statue is isolated around nothing
structure and form
1. sonnet- genre of love poem
2. first 8 lines (octave) pose a problem
  1. last 6 lines (sestet) solves the problem
    1. line 9 (volta) is a sharp turn which brings about the move to the resolution
3. abba abba rhyme sheme
4. ozymandias is a mixture of two sonnet forms.
  1. this shows that us that using the old sonnet style first shows that when he goes into using the 'new' sonnet form which is shakespearean sonnet form it shows that nothing lasts forever
    1. old power is taken over by new power
    2. nothing lasts forever not even the form of the sonnet
langauge
1. OZYMANDIAS
  1. comes from ramses the second
  2. 'ozy' comes from the greek 'ozium' meaning to breathe. 'mandias' comes from the greek 'mandate' meaning 'to rule'
    1. even the title suggest power and control
  3. 'I met a traveller'
    1. writer is distancing himself from his actaul life in order to critisize king George
  4. 'sunk' 'shattered' 'frown' 'wrinkled' 'sneer' this negative langauge makes it clear the poem is an attack and not a praising of the powerful
2. 'cold command' repetition of the hard 'c' sound reflects the harsh nature of ozymandias
  1. idea of anger and aggression
3. 'boundless and bare' alliteration is used to emphasise the emptiness
4. 'the lone and level sands stretch far away'= the desert outlives the statue
  1. nature has outlived the power
5. irony as ozymandias is expected to live forever but his statue is now crumpling away

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