GCSE English Literature Poetry - Quotes to Learn

Ozymandias by Percy Shelley

•  “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies” - irony, Ramses thought his powerful dynasty would endure like the Empire

• “sneer of cold command” - consonance, alliteration

• “king of kings”- alliteration, underscores his belief in how own power

• “colossal wreck, boundless and bare”- emphasizes the fall of Pharaoh Ramses dynasty/ allegory for King George III. Adjective ‘colossal’ means huge

London by William Blake

• “I wander through each chartered street” - Government controls everything

• “Every black’ning church appalls”- the adjective ‘blackening’ can be metaphorically read as government and church corruption. 

• “marks of weakness, marks of woe” - anaphora, the verb ‘mark’ has a double meaning : notice and implies people are affected negatively

• “chimney sweeper’s cry…hapless soldier’s sigh” - sibilance / end rhyme