Ozymandias
Writers use imagery for many reasons. Appealing to a reader's senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch can make the text seem more real to the reader. Certain images may also inspire a reader to respond with feelings of awe, disgust, fear, desire, amusement, or joy, to name just a few. But writers do not use images purely to keep the reader's interest--often, the images in a text help to develop the text's theme.
Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Questions for Discussion
1. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
A) ABBA ACCA DEDEDE
B) ABBA ABBA CDCDCD
C) ABBA ABBA CDEDCE
D) ABAB ACDC EDEFEF
2. In which poetic form is "Ozymandias" written?
A) sonnet
B) ballad
C) hymn
D) ode
E) none of the above
3. The speaker of the poem is
A) someone who has spoken to someone who has seen the ruins of the statue.
B) Ozymandias.
C) someone who has seen the ruins of the statue.
D) the sculptor of the statue of Ozymandias.
E) none of the above
4. What does the speaker mean by "an antique land"?
A) A country from ancient times
B) A country with many old fallen sculptures
C) Egypt
D) Arabia's desert culture
E) Ozymandias
5. What is the "shattered visage" the author writes about?
A) A broken promise
B) A torn sheet of papyrus
C) A shattered head
D) A smashed statue
6. Where is Ozymandias' statue now?
A) London
B) In a professor's study
C) Rome
D) In the desert
7. The repitition of sounds in "boundless and bare / The lone and level sands stretch far away." (lines 13 and 14) provide an example of which of the following?
A) Simile
B) Alliteration
C) Onomatopoeia
D) Personification
E) Metaphor
8. Whom can the reader assume Ozymandias was?
A) The kind and benevolent ruler
B) Alexander the Great
C) A sculptor of ancient Greece
D) A haughty king of ancient times
E) A traveler in the desert
9.The intended meaning of the inscription on the pedestal is:
A) Art lasts longer than royal glory and achievements.
B) All other rulers are insignificant compared to me.
C) All earthly triumphs, including mine, are meaningless.
D) Power is less important than fame.
10. The irony of the pedestal statement is
A) the statue’s face is sneering
B) the slave who carved the statue is dead
C) the “traveller” in line 1 can’t be trusted
D) none of the mighty works referred to remain
E) the king was known to the English by another name
11. Which of the following best describes the meaning of this poem?
A) Time heals all wounds.
B) Here today, gone tomorrow.
C) The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
D) Even the mighty are mortal.
E) Pride goeth before a fall.
12. Which of the following is Shelley NOT writing about in this poem?
A) The sin of pride
B) An ancient pharaoh or king
C) The healing process
D) A wrecked statue in the desert
E) A tale told by a tourist
13. The poem is an example of
A) paradox.
B) verbal irony.
C) personification.
D) situational irony
14. ... Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command ...
("Ozymandias," lines 2-5)
To what senses does this image appeal? What emotions might this image provoke in the reader? How is this image related to the theme of the poem?
15. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.
("Ozymandias," lines 12-14)
To what senses does this image appeal? What emotions might this image provoke in the reader? How is this image related to the theme of the poem?