ozymandias

written by?

Percy Shelley

summary

about the ruins of a once great tyrant

message behind

extended metaphor for the short lived nature of political power

context behind poem

• Shelley was a romantic

• warning to people in power that nature will always overrule man

key quotes

• “look on my works ye mighty and despair”

• boundless and bare, the line and level sands stretch far away”

“look on my works ye mighty and despair” analysis

• irony- expects his statue to be a symbol of everlasting power however it becomes a ruin (emphasising transience)

• the statue is eventually eroded over time

“boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away”

• alliteration- emphasises the emptiness of the desert, juxtaposing the greatness of the statue

• imagery- presents a cast natural world, reinforces the idea that nature is superior to mankind. mocks and criticises those in power