Question

discuss the poetic style of the poem,'ozymandias'.

Answer 1

One of the classic poems in the English language had an unusual beginning.  Percy Bysshe Shelley and a friend challenged each other to write a sonnet; and then the sonnets would be judged to determine...

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Form

The poem is written as a Petrarch sonnet.  It has fourteen lines and follows a set rhyme scheme: ABABACDCEFEF.  The poem is divided in two sections with the first eight lines or octave and the next six lines or sestet.  

Narrator

The point of view in the poem is first person. Shelley takes on the role as narrator. In the second line, the narrator allows the traveler to tell his story of his adventure while visiting Egypt [the ancient land].

Setting

The poem begins probably in London where the poet meets a man who has been traveling in an ancient land.  The rest of the poem is at the site of the crumbling statue in the sands of a desert.

Tone

The tone is ironic and mocking. The great king builds a huge statue of himself to glorify his accomplishments. It now is in shambles. Sarcastically, the poet establishes a mood to point up foolishness of tyrannical leaders.

Theme

Nothing lasts forever.  Even a powerful king cannot stop the ravages of time and the weather. MoreIMPORTANTLY, the last half of the sonnet indicates a disdain for the ruler who feels it necessary to brag about all of his accomplishments.

Ironically, the primary theme that emerges in this poem is that the statue represents a man who was a powerful and proud king. And yet everything that he took pride in has returned to the sands. Inferred in this theme is the certainty of our own passing into worldly obscurity. Nothing lasts forever.

Figurative language

Alliteration-

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away.

Enjambment-[Carrying the sense of one line of verse over to the next time without a pause]

Near, on the sand,Half sun, a shattered visage lies, who frown,

Summary

The poet meets a man who has traveled to an ancient land. The man tells him a story of an adventure in the desert.  The traveler sees the ruins of a huge statue of Ozymandias or Ramses II.  All that is left of the state are the two legs standing up. Partially buried in the sand near the legs is the face of the statue with a scoffing look of complete control.  The talented sculptor portrayed the passions of the great ruler displaying his dislike of anyone who challenges hisIMPORTANCE.  Obviously, the hand held aloft was meant to show his power.