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Ozymandias Analysis
Ozymandias Analysis
Who is speaking?
There are several different voices in this poem that put some distance between us and Ozymandias.
First there is the speaker of the poem, the guy who meets the traveler from an "antique land."
1st person narrative “I”.
Then the traveller's voice occupies the rest of the poem. The traveller tells the story to the poet who
tells it to us.
Most of the poem consists of the traveler's description of the statue lying in the desert, except for lines
10-11 where he tells us what the inscription on the statue says; and while the traveler speaks these lines,
they really belong to Ozymandias, making him, in a sense, the third speaker in this polyphonic (or
many-voiced) poem.
Theme of the Octave (lines 1-8): Describes what the traveller saw: the ruins of the ancient
statue of Ozymandias. He describes the charactheristics of the statue, the frown, etc.
Theme of the Sestet (lines 9-14): Dwells on the irony of the downfall of tyranny. The great
pharaoh who believed he ruled the entire world, is now dead and long forgotten so that even his statue
lies in ruins, sinking into the desert.
Form and structure of the poem (rhyme, rhythm, line length, stanza length, etc.):
The rhyme scheme is initially Shakespearean, as the first four lines rhyme ABAB.
But then the poem gets strange: at lines 5-8 the rhyme scheme is ACDC, rather than the expected
CDCD.
For lines 9-12, the rhyme scheme is EDEF, rather than EFEF.
Finally, instead of a concluding couplet we get another EF group.
Rhyme scheme can be schematized as follows: ABABACDCEDEFEF.
Type of poem:
Mixture of Petrarchan (octave & sestet) & Shakespearean (line 1-4 rhyming ABAB) sonnet in iambic
pentameter.
Personal response to the poem (how do I feel, what impact does the poem have on
me):
When reading this poem I feel a sense of despair at the ompermenance of everything. This poem is
a reminder of our own mortality and the fact that we all are going to die; there is no way of avoiding
death.
YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSE!
Questions from knowledge4africa:
Which land is the poet referring to when the poet speaks of “an antique land”?
• Ancient Egypt.
What words tell us that the poet had not personally witnessed the scene he is
describing?
• Lines 1-2: “I met a traveller from an antique land,/Who said:”
• The whole story/poem is based on what the traveller apparently told the poet.
What does the poet mean when he says that the legs of stone were “vast” and
“trunkless”?
• The legs were huge and detached from the body of the statue.
Quote FOUR words or sets of words which tell us that the pharaoh, whose image is
captured in stone, had little affection for his people.
• “frown”
• “wrinkled up”
• “sneer of cold command”
• “the hand that mocked him”
Comment on the IRONY of the pharaoh's words, “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and
despair!”
• The pharaoh, in his arrogance, believed that he was so powerful and the greatest of rulers – the
“king of kings”.
• His works – public buildings/temples, statues, etc. - were so great that everyone would cower
(crouch down) in fear when they observed them.
• The irony, however, is that these great works have collapsed and lie in ruins everywhere, and few
can even remember who Ramses II was.
• Such is the fate of the great tyrants.
To whom is Ozymandias referring when he speaks of “ye Mighty”? Why should they
“despair”?
• He is presumably referring to all his enemies.
• They would “despair” - cower (crouch down) in fear – at the sight of all the wonderful public
works that had been erected in the pharaoh's name and in his honour.
• As soon as they saw these statues and monuments, they would know that such great works would
indicate a truly powerful ruler.
• They would then tremble in fear at what he would do to them and their puny enemies.