Ozymandias Flashcards
by Percy Bysshe Shelley — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Ozymandias
Who is the speaker of the poem, and how does the narrative reach the reader?
The poem's narrator recounts a story told by a traveller from 'an antique land,' creating a double frame -- we hear about the statue at two removes.
What remains of the statue in the desert?
Two vast, trunkless legs of stone still stand, and nearby a shattered face lies half sunk in the sand, along with a pedestal bearing an inscription.
What three facial features does the traveller describe on the shattered visage?
A frown, a wrinkled lip, and a sneer of cold command.
What do the facial expressions on the ruined statue reveal about Ozymandias?
They reveal his arrogance and authoritarian nature -- a ruler who governed through intimidation and contempt.
What is inscribed on the pedestal of the statue?
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Who is the intended audience of the pedestal inscription, and what was its original purpose?
It addresses other powerful rulers ('ye Mighty'), boasting that Ozymandias's achievements surpass all others and should make rivals despair.
What does the traveller see surrounding the ruined statue?
Nothing -- only 'lone and level sands' stretching far away in every direction.
What is situational irony in this poem?
Ozymandias commanded the mighty to 'despair' at his works, but every trace of those works has vanished, making the boast an unintentional comment on his own insignificance.
What does 'the hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed' refer to?
'The hand' is the sculptor's, who imitated (mocked) the king's passions in stone; 'the heart' is Ozymandias's, whose emotions fed those expressions.
How does the sculptor's art outlast the king's empire?
The carved expressions survive on the statue fragments, preserving Ozymandias's character long after his kingdom has turned to sand.
What historical figure is Ozymandias based on?
Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great), the powerful Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th century BCE.
What event in 1816-1817 likely inspired Shelley to write this poem?
The British Museum's acquisition of a large fragment of a statue of Ramesses II from Thebes.
What does the word 'antique' mean in the phrase 'antique land'?
Ancient or belonging to a far-off past -- it refers to Egypt, a civilization already thousands of years old in Shelley's time.
What does 'visage' mean?
A person's face or facial expression. Here it refers to the broken stone face of the statue lying in the sand.
What does 'trunkless' mean in 'trunkless legs of stone'?
Without a torso -- the statue's upper body is gone, leaving only the legs standing.
What does the desert setting symbolize?
The obliterating power of time and nature, which erases even the grandest human achievements.
How does the poem comment on the relationship between political power and time?
It shows that all political power is temporary -- no matter how great a ruler's dominion, time reduces it to ruins and empty desert.
What is the effect of the alliteration in 'lone and level sands stretch'?
The repeated 'l' and 's' sounds create a slow, sweeping rhythm that evokes the vast, empty expanse of the desert.
What does the word 'colossal' suggest about the original statue?
It was enormous in scale, emphasizing the ambition and vanity of the king who commissioned it -- and making its ruin all the more striking.
Why does Shelley use a framed narrative (traveller's account) instead of describing the statue directly?
The layered retelling adds distance and antiquity, reinforcing how remote and forgotten Ozymandias's reign has become.
What tone dominates the closing lines of the poem?
A tone of bleak irony and desolation, as the boundless empty desert silently contradicts the king's boastful inscription.
How does Shelley characterize Ozymandias without ever letting him speak in his own voice (outside the inscription)?
Through the sculptor's rendering -- the frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer convey his tyrannical personality entirely through a third party's art.
What role does the sculptor play thematically in the poem?
The sculptor represents the enduring power of art: his skilled reading of the king's passions survives in stone while the king's empire has vanished.
What does 'Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' mean in its original context versus its ironic context?
Originally it was a boast that rivals should despair at being outmatched; ironically, the 'despair' now comes from seeing that even the mightiest achievements are impermanent.
What verb does Shelley use to describe what the sculptor did with Ozymandias's passions?
'Mocked' -- meaning both imitated (sculpted a likeness) and ridiculed, suggesting the sculptor subtly critiqued the king while portraying him.