![]() ![]() It makes it more universal, as if many ancient civilisations could have such statues as he describes later. It could be Macchu Pichu, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Mayans, the Hun… the fact that Egypt is not mentioned specifically is important, because it means it’s also another level of vague old mystery. ![]() Still, it adds another little shot of mystery right in there, with the vagueness of the place. The “antique land” is a little ambiguous, as is the title, but you don’t have to be an Egyptologist to know that Egypt is the place in question. was born in) the antique land, since that just sounds more marvellously mysterious. he was born there?) or a traveller who’s come back from the “antique land”? For me, I like to think that he’s a traveller that came from (i.e. Is the traveller FROM the antique land (i.e. The first line of the poem gives us a bit of context: the traveller is from “an antique land” – it’s still a little ambiguous though. In this post, I’m focusing on the language, ideas and views expressed in the poem. Shelley would feel no hesitation at all in writing a poem directly criticising Mad King George, believe me! To recap: Ozymandias is a sonnet, but please don’t try to link it to love rather link it to the sonnet traditions of John Milton if you must the poem isn’t about a particular statue being brought to England, more the phenomenon of Egyptology which was particularly popular at the time Shelley was writing the poem could be a critique of King George III among others, but it’s not specifically about him. I also looked a little at the sonnet form. ![]() The theme of the poem is that human power and greatness is transient, and while we all hope to leave our mark on the world in some way, nothing lasts forever-not even great empires.In the last post, I had a look at some of the myths, fallacies and truths around the context of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley, to help GCSE English Literature candidates for AQA make sense of what’s out there. The title is about the King, Ozymandias, and his great statue that lies in ruins in the middle of the desert. This is no longer a piece of marble in the desert it was the statue of a great king. The shift is found when the speaker moves from describing the physical aspects of the statue, which shows that it is in pieces, to the significance of the statue which is found on the pedestal. Unfortunately, that power did not last for Ozymandias.Īs is true of most sonnets, there is a shift. After describing this shattered visage which was once sculpted with such care by its creator, the inscription on the pedestal shows that it was once a symbol of great power. Ozymandias once thought he would be remembered for his works which were so great they would last forever, but now, there is nothing left. The speaker uses words such as antique, vast, shattered, cold command, despair, nothing… remains, decay, and wreck to emphasize that this once-great King’s statue now lies broken in a wasteland. Ozymandias used to be a great and mighty king, but there is nothing left of his empire anymore. The traveler tells the speaker that the statue is in pieces in the sand in the middle of the desert. The speaker meets a traveler who has recently seen the great statue of the powerful pharaoh Ramses II, or Ozymandias. It could be the name of a place, or a person from a long time ago. ![]()
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