Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Ozymandias Analysis Using SMILE – AQA Poetry (GCSE
English Literature)
The next poem will be looking at is “Ozymandias”. It’s a great poem by Shelley; a bit of a
classic and then some.
We will look at the structure first all. It is a sonnet, so the poem has a certain amount
things to say here and really wants to encapsulate in a very punchy and powerful way. We can
actually judge straight away that it’s very short and powerful.
The enjambment is used to actually make us consider some of the materials used and the
way that things are fading down here. It is making us end on the last word and consider
it. The Caesura there as well, just kind of rebrakes us. “Nothing beside remains”,
full stop and so we really have to stop and consider that element in the poem which helps
us with understanding the meaning.
One of the other things that we got is the structure. We got the multiple characters
which is quite interesting. We’ve got this traveler. We also got this person talking
which we presume is Shelley and that’s the “I” there. You got the traveler who actually
speaks and you’ve got Ozymandias who actually speaks and who actually says the elements
around here. That’s quite interesting to a poem. It’s only a few lines long and yet,
it still contains three different characters.
So we move on to the meanings. The lessons of history and this is an interesting way
if you do want to use it is Peripeteia which is basically the reverse of circumstances
or things shifting, so it is one way and then it flips. The idea here is that even though
he’s got this plaque there, “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Obviously,
at the end of it, it’s half sunk and shattered and it’s a colossal wreck so that’s completely
turned around or changed fortune. In literature, that can be described as Peripeteia. Hopefully,
that’s something new to you.
The meaning then is pride. You got the vanity of this person there, of what they think of
themselves and how great they are and then, the fall that they suffer as result. You also
have the idea of reputations; what people think of themselves and also the legacy which
he is actually leaving there. It is left as a colossal wreck and alone on level sand,
stretching far away which basically means there is nothing left of what he thought and
as great as he thought he was, his legacy is meaningless or what’s left for us is
rest amok.
You’ve got the image of the statue. We want images and the image of the statue there is
“shattered” and “wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”. It’s really, really
powerful. Just kind of gives us this kind of this ugly, ugly section. This “colossal
Wreck” again, the oxymoron used is really powerful.
You also got the image of the traveler. So this is a person and you know it is mentioned
there and only that it speaks to us. It is just this idea of someone moving through from
place to place. Someone who is actually learning, spreading the knowledge and it’s quite interesting.
You also got the image of the desert again, just alone in the level at the bottom is quite
interesting. The lifelessness, that’s really quite interesting, because you got the lifelessness
here. The “frown” is obviously is “stamped” as he manages to actually put there. You also
got everything being alone, level and it’s a wreck. All that’s actually left is words
on plaque. It is actually alive that is actually through us here. So you get a lot of lifelessness
coming through and especially when the dessert is mentioned. Then obviously there it is highlighted
again as been very lifeless.
Then, we look at some of the language in here. We got alliteration here in “cold command”
which really emphasizes how distant and dominating this person may have been. We’ve got the
word of others, so you’ve got the words of a child coming through there and the words
of Ozymandias there. That’s given us so many different personas in the poem and so
it gives us quite a life even if this is very short.
Time, you got the use of the exclamation mark that is used there. That obviously has the
power in expecting us to be as ready and as to be in awe or afraid of this, but here,
it is just kind of moronic clock that we’re reading. It is not really worth paying any
attention and it makes it all the more sad and desperate situation.
You also have the oxymoron which we did mention earlier in the “colossal Wreck” which
offers a great contrast in showing us how it is not as Ozymandias intended it to be.
So what does it make us think about then? It makes us think about powerful people: the
kings, rulers, etc.; and I suppose the current political situation in the Middle East with
the uprising, people like Hosni Mubarak, etc. and how will he be remembered and how was
he remembered at the same time. His picture was ripped from so many places in Egypt and
I think that it is just an interesting comment to make. Just touch that in your exam by going
through the whole Egyptian political history. That will get you no marks, but if you touch
upon it, it just shows an awareness, etc.
It gives the idea of travel and the kind of things that we see when we go to other countries
and what we learn from people that we meet and places and things that we can pick up
and probably, most importantly, we get this idea of repeated history because here again,
I’m referencing to monarchy. We have the situation of Ozymandias which was just supposed
to be kind of built on the tale of Pharaoh Ramses.
Then, obviously you got this great people and all these people who think they are great
and all powerful and they all will be remembered and again, it’s happened again and probably
in the future, it will happen again and again. I’m sure from history, you can pick a lot
of your own examples, but a really short, punchy poem which has a lot of lessons in
it.
[End of audio – 06:05] Ozymandias
Analysis Using SMILE – AQA Poetry (GCSE English Literature)
Page…1