#OZYMANDIAS IMAGERY SERIES#

This is further highlighted by the semantic field of destruction, 'shattered visage, lifelesss, colossal Wreck' (The capitalisation of the word Wreck works as a transferred epithet -> Ozymandias' identity has gone from being regal to being a wreck).Shelley also uses juxtaposition in the lines 'Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair!/ Nothing beside remains. ' King of kings' also alludes to divine power as Ozymandias believed himself to be as or more omnipotent than God.Shelley then uses the technique of irony to highlight how Ozymandias' power has diminished over time reducing him to 'trunkless legs of stone'. Shelley makes usage of cacophonous alliteration to present the power Ozymandias once had, 'cold command' and 'King of Kings', these suggest Ozymandias was a stern and authoritative ruler. Then we pick out any literary devices Shelley has used that link to power.

How does this link to power? Shelley does not use the traditional sonnet form, this could reflect how Ozymandias' power has not survived in a traditional generational sense, the usage of a regular rhyme scheme also highlights how time has passed.

Shelley uses a 14 line sonnet in iambic pentameter and a regular rhyme scheme. Dizraeli also references the poem in his piece ‘Celebrate’, which you can watch elsewhere on the Page Fright site.Firstly we want to highlight any interesting structural devices in the poem and link them to power. Both of these use the themes of poem to highlight similar ideas.

#OZYMANDIAS IMAGERY SERIES#

More recently the poem was used in an advert for the TV series Breaking Bad and in the comic series Watchmen a character is named Ozymandias. These lines also contain some of the most vivid and beautiful imagery in. It uses vivid imagery to convey its message of transience and impermanence. Shelleys sonnet Ozymandias describes how a great ruler like Ozymandias and. Shelley’s poem is strange mix two forms of sonnet, the Shakespearean and the Petrarchan. It was written in a writing competition with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith, whose poem ‘On A Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below’ never gained as much recognition. It uses vivid imagery to convey its message of transience and. This poem, ‘Ozymandias’, is based on a king of ancient Egypt, also known as Ramesses II. Ozymandias was written by English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). Shelley was also a political radical and wrote poems such as ‘England in 1819’, ‘The Mask of Anarchy’ exploring the political state of the country at that time. Although a member of the upper classes Shelley was a radical young man, eloping twice with young women he died at the age of just 29. ‘Ozymandias’ was written by English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

Ozymandias imagery