Close reading Ozymandias
Khadija Belhaji
Professor Astrid Bracke
Literature 1: Genres, texts, contexts
18 september 2014
Ozymandias
The main theme that keeps recurring in Ozymandias is the overpowering nature versus the man-made achievements. Shelley uses different types of language manner to depict this. The analysis made by Shelley is clearly shown through different kinds of wordplay. No matter how great you think you are, if you are a king or a pauper, the fact remains that we all have to die. With death, power ceases to exist.
Shelley portrays a deteriorated statue, which stands for the fall of life. As the statue breaks down little by little, eventually nature will catch up with you. To give an impression of this destruction, Shelley uses words like: ‘trunkless’ and ‘shattered’. Trunkless means a main body, apart from tributaries or appendages. You are without a torso, meaning very damaged. The main thing of your existence is missing. He uses the word ‘shattered’ to demonstrate that the body is ruined and destroyed completely.
In the very first lines, Shelley starts off with a meeting between the speaker of the poem and a traveller from an ‘antique’ land. Normally, antique means something that is very old. Shelley uses this word to illustrate the ancientness of the area. In ‘Ozymandias’ this could be used to show that the traveller has come from an ancient, forgotten place. Seen as Ozymandias used to rule Egypt as an emperor, it could imply that Shelley meant that this place is Egypt.
Furthermore, Shelley tries to draw an image of this broken-down, shattered, destroyed statue. This is in the representation of the quick diminishing power. Power is never forever. It is temporary, that is what the speaker of the poem is trying to convey. ‘’Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.’’(6) ’Read’’ means here
‘’copied’’ or ‘’comprehend’’. This tells us that the creator of the sculpture was able to look inside the King’s thoughts and see the underlying passions
Professor Astrid Bracke
Literature 1: Genres, texts, contexts
18 september 2014
Ozymandias
The main theme that keeps recurring in Ozymandias is the overpowering nature versus the man-made achievements. Shelley uses different types of language manner to depict this. The analysis made by Shelley is clearly shown through different kinds of wordplay. No matter how great you think you are, if you are a king or a pauper, the fact remains that we all have to die. With death, power ceases to exist.
Shelley portrays a deteriorated statue, which stands for the fall of life. As the statue breaks down little by little, eventually nature will catch up with you. To give an impression of this destruction, Shelley uses words like: ‘trunkless’ and ‘shattered’. Trunkless means a main body, apart from tributaries or appendages. You are without a torso, meaning very damaged. The main thing of your existence is missing. He uses the word ‘shattered’ to demonstrate that the body is ruined and destroyed completely.
In the very first lines, Shelley starts off with a meeting between the speaker of the poem and a traveller from an ‘antique’ land. Normally, antique means something that is very old. Shelley uses this word to illustrate the ancientness of the area. In ‘Ozymandias’ this could be used to show that the traveller has come from an ancient, forgotten place. Seen as Ozymandias used to rule Egypt as an emperor, it could imply that Shelley meant that this place is Egypt.
Furthermore, Shelley tries to draw an image of this broken-down, shattered, destroyed statue. This is in the representation of the quick diminishing power. Power is never forever. It is temporary, that is what the speaker of the poem is trying to convey. ‘’Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.’’(6) ’Read’’ means here
‘’copied’’ or ‘’comprehend’’. This tells us that the creator of the sculpture was able to look inside the King’s thoughts and see the underlying passions