Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Summary: The poem concerns the decaying statue of Ramesses II (Ozymandias) and shows how power deteriorates and will not last forever.
Shelley mocks the arrogance of the dictator and challenges power. Explores the idea that all power is temporary, no matter how powerful or
tyrannical the ruler is, and that ultimately nature is more powerful than any human power
Themes: Power of human, Power of nature, Time, Corruption, Death, Arrogance, Irony
Context:
● Based on the story of a funeral temple of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II (Ozymandias)
● Ozymandias built many temples and monuments using slavery → He was a military dictator, very arrogant and powerful. He imagined
the memorials would last forever, which at the end many crumbled into sands
● Percy wrote this sonnet after seeing a huge granite statue of Ramesses II at the British Museum in 1817.
● Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the epic poets in the 19th century who always challenged power and projected his controversial political
views. He was a radical romantic poet, anti-religion and anti-monarchy
● He was well educated and wrote many poems regarding to the theme of power due to his dad being a politician
● Went on many adventures with his second wife, Mary Shelley
Form:
● Petrarchan + Shakespearean sonnet → a sonnet is typically a love poem from a man to his lover, reflective of the pride and love
Ozymandias has for himself - demonstrates that all power is transient and subject to evolution
● Irregular rhyme scheme → suggests a lack of power and control of the ruler, breaks away from the sonnet form which enables Shelley
to imply how poetry and literature can defy tradition and give way to new power - demonstrates that established power structures can be
changed, and that conventions can be changed, replaced and edited - literary attitude characteristics of the romantic poets who focused
their work on defying old ideas of rhythm or religion, metre or monarchy
● Iambic Pentameter
Structure:
● Framed Narrative → adds to obscurity and undermines Ozymandias’ power over time
● Caesura → represent the breaking up of the statue
● Enjambment → creates an uneven pattern reflecting the broken nature of the statue, as well as the idea that nothing can last forever
,Key Quotes:
‘I met a traveller from an antique land’ -
● personal pronoun ‘I’ → the narrator haven't seen the statue himself and he describes from an anonymous 2nd person point of view of
the statue → opens the poem with the detached narrative of a traveller to distance himself from the political message of the poem
● ‘Antique land’ → suggests the age and isolation of the place to the narrator → the idea that legacy is so insignificant it is known only by
travellers
‘The hand that mocked them’ -
● The artist’s work is mocking the king’s arrogance. The king expects his citizens to see glory and his power in his statue, and his strong
confidence in his own supremacy is ironic as it has now been forgotten and destroyed by time → presents the futility and insignificance
of power and authority as it will also fade within time.
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings” -
● Repetition of ‘king’ + hyperbole → the claim emphasises his arrogance and ignorance as he believes so strongly in his own power and
superiority that he asserts himself as the ultimate king and is in control of all and he criticises the other leaders of their ability to rule
● Mocking - Ironic to readers as he is now forgotten and powerless as his story is only reported by a traveller
● Shelley uses Ozymandias as an allegory for the monarch at his time as he criticises the corrupted power of the monarchy and religion
● Allegory → uses Ozymandias as a representation of King George III and all other figures of power, creating an overwhelming sense of
irony surrounding the fall of the King’s influence
“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair” -
● Imperative → his power and arrogance as he orders his citizens to embrace and respect his statue
● Hyperbole + caesura → Ozymandias’ arrogance, expects his citizens to look up at his statue and
‘Nothing beside remains’ -
● Tone of loss and abandonment + short sentence → the insignificant power of man when facing the supremacy of nature and time,
Ozymandias’ statue has been abandoned and destroyed by time in the desert of the ‘antique land’
‘The lone and level sands stretch far away.’ -
● Alliteration → vast, powerful extent of nature and its ability to outlive all other forms of power and deem them insignificant in comparison
→ The transient and insignificant nature of human power = key message in Shelley’s poem
● Sibilance + symbolism → the use of a desert setting strips Ozymandias of his legacy as the land surrounding his statue is a featureless
wasteland, devoid of any culture of life. The emptiness of the desert is symbolic of how his reign was pointless and insignificant as he
has been forgotten by history. Sand is symbolic of t8me and presents how time can erase the power of man
,My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
Summary: Describes an Italian Duke, who has supposedly killed his first wife and is now planning to marry another woman. He displays a
painting of his dead wife and reveals it to a visitor, as he accuses the dead wife for flirting with the painter and cheating on him with other men.
He criticises the wife for being ‘too easily pleased’ and orders her to be killed.
Types of Conflict: The conflict between the control of the Duke and the lack of control of the Duchess, the power the Duke has over the
Duchess’ life. Ownership of male attitudes toward women
Context:
● Browning was born in London, but lived mostly in Italy
● The poem was based on Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, whose first wife died under suspicions after 3 years of marriage
● Written in the Industrial Revolution, when society started to see social mobility in class and gender, as women started to demand for
equality and began the suffrage movement
● Beforehand, women would biome property of their husbands upon marriage with no right to divorce, and were married off by their
brothers or fathers as financial burden
● The poem was set in the Italian Resistance when art was heavily valued among the society
Form:
● Written in first person narrative in present tense → enables the narrator to control what he tells the reader, suggesting unreliability and
biases or exaggeration in his narrative - reflect the power of the Duke, both politically and over his wives
● Perspective is entirely the Duke’s → reflects the controlling and dominating presence of the Duke, readers are given a one-sided
account as the Duchess’s side of the story is not told - implies the lack of feminine narrative in the Victorian society as women were
politically silenced since they had no right to vote or hold power outside of the home - Browning is criticising the Duke’s abuse of power
over his wife and so the inequality between men and women in his society
Structure:
● Traditional iambic Pentameter → gives a conversational tone, like the heartbeat, symbolises the Duke’s pride and superiority, also
reflects how the Duke holds traditional views about women
● Dramatic Monologue, narrated by the imaginary Duke
● Single stanza → sense of being overwhelmed by the Duke’s presence as he is dominating, lack of control over himself and also when
, he tries to exert control over others, suggests the poem is the Duke’s stream of consciousness and demonstrates his unfiltered thoughts
and feelings
● Use of rhyming couplets → The Duke’s desire for control by using carefully considered and refined speech
Key Quotes:
‘That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive’
● Possessive pronoun ‘my’ → as if the duke owns the duchess herself, not only the painting, the Duke’s control over the duchess’ life, the
duke is possessive over his wife as he feels everything must be for him alone and he desires the feeling oc exclusive ownership →
invokes the reader’s interest as it raises questions such as why is it his ‘last duchess’ → establishes his control over his wife, she is like
a possession, not an individual
● Simile → creates a sinister tone, giving hints to the reader that the last duchess is dead
‘None puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I’
● His control over who can look at his painting, but he was unable to control who looked at his wife when she was alive
● He is threatened by other men enjoying her presence and beauty which highlights the absolute control he had over her, not just over
her life, but over her death and memory after death
● Drawing the curtains can be metaphorically symbolising his control over her death as he ended her life like how he closed the curtain of
her painting
‘Too soon made glad, Too easily impressed’
● Anaphora → the duke is annoyed and angry at his duchess as she is too easily pleased and wooed by other men and he accuses her of
cheating, hence why he killed her. Demonstrates his lack of control over his wife.
● He is envious and jealous that his wife is flirting with other men
‘My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name’**
● The Duke’s only pride of his family name, shows he holds status and power within society, and he felt his wife disrespected and shamed
his family name as he accuses her of cheating
● Reflects the lack of control and power of women as the women is owned by her husband through marriage, as she has to take his name
and loses all legal rights
Summary: The poem concerns the decaying statue of Ramesses II (Ozymandias) and shows how power deteriorates and will not last forever.
Shelley mocks the arrogance of the dictator and challenges power. Explores the idea that all power is temporary, no matter how powerful or
tyrannical the ruler is, and that ultimately nature is more powerful than any human power
Themes: Power of human, Power of nature, Time, Corruption, Death, Arrogance, Irony
Context:
● Based on the story of a funeral temple of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II (Ozymandias)
● Ozymandias built many temples and monuments using slavery → He was a military dictator, very arrogant and powerful. He imagined
the memorials would last forever, which at the end many crumbled into sands
● Percy wrote this sonnet after seeing a huge granite statue of Ramesses II at the British Museum in 1817.
● Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the epic poets in the 19th century who always challenged power and projected his controversial political
views. He was a radical romantic poet, anti-religion and anti-monarchy
● He was well educated and wrote many poems regarding to the theme of power due to his dad being a politician
● Went on many adventures with his second wife, Mary Shelley
Form:
● Petrarchan + Shakespearean sonnet → a sonnet is typically a love poem from a man to his lover, reflective of the pride and love
Ozymandias has for himself - demonstrates that all power is transient and subject to evolution
● Irregular rhyme scheme → suggests a lack of power and control of the ruler, breaks away from the sonnet form which enables Shelley
to imply how poetry and literature can defy tradition and give way to new power - demonstrates that established power structures can be
changed, and that conventions can be changed, replaced and edited - literary attitude characteristics of the romantic poets who focused
their work on defying old ideas of rhythm or religion, metre or monarchy
● Iambic Pentameter
Structure:
● Framed Narrative → adds to obscurity and undermines Ozymandias’ power over time
● Caesura → represent the breaking up of the statue
● Enjambment → creates an uneven pattern reflecting the broken nature of the statue, as well as the idea that nothing can last forever
,Key Quotes:
‘I met a traveller from an antique land’ -
● personal pronoun ‘I’ → the narrator haven't seen the statue himself and he describes from an anonymous 2nd person point of view of
the statue → opens the poem with the detached narrative of a traveller to distance himself from the political message of the poem
● ‘Antique land’ → suggests the age and isolation of the place to the narrator → the idea that legacy is so insignificant it is known only by
travellers
‘The hand that mocked them’ -
● The artist’s work is mocking the king’s arrogance. The king expects his citizens to see glory and his power in his statue, and his strong
confidence in his own supremacy is ironic as it has now been forgotten and destroyed by time → presents the futility and insignificance
of power and authority as it will also fade within time.
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings” -
● Repetition of ‘king’ + hyperbole → the claim emphasises his arrogance and ignorance as he believes so strongly in his own power and
superiority that he asserts himself as the ultimate king and is in control of all and he criticises the other leaders of their ability to rule
● Mocking - Ironic to readers as he is now forgotten and powerless as his story is only reported by a traveller
● Shelley uses Ozymandias as an allegory for the monarch at his time as he criticises the corrupted power of the monarchy and religion
● Allegory → uses Ozymandias as a representation of King George III and all other figures of power, creating an overwhelming sense of
irony surrounding the fall of the King’s influence
“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair” -
● Imperative → his power and arrogance as he orders his citizens to embrace and respect his statue
● Hyperbole + caesura → Ozymandias’ arrogance, expects his citizens to look up at his statue and
‘Nothing beside remains’ -
● Tone of loss and abandonment + short sentence → the insignificant power of man when facing the supremacy of nature and time,
Ozymandias’ statue has been abandoned and destroyed by time in the desert of the ‘antique land’
‘The lone and level sands stretch far away.’ -
● Alliteration → vast, powerful extent of nature and its ability to outlive all other forms of power and deem them insignificant in comparison
→ The transient and insignificant nature of human power = key message in Shelley’s poem
● Sibilance + symbolism → the use of a desert setting strips Ozymandias of his legacy as the land surrounding his statue is a featureless
wasteland, devoid of any culture of life. The emptiness of the desert is symbolic of how his reign was pointless and insignificant as he
has been forgotten by history. Sand is symbolic of t8me and presents how time can erase the power of man
,My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
Summary: Describes an Italian Duke, who has supposedly killed his first wife and is now planning to marry another woman. He displays a
painting of his dead wife and reveals it to a visitor, as he accuses the dead wife for flirting with the painter and cheating on him with other men.
He criticises the wife for being ‘too easily pleased’ and orders her to be killed.
Types of Conflict: The conflict between the control of the Duke and the lack of control of the Duchess, the power the Duke has over the
Duchess’ life. Ownership of male attitudes toward women
Context:
● Browning was born in London, but lived mostly in Italy
● The poem was based on Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, whose first wife died under suspicions after 3 years of marriage
● Written in the Industrial Revolution, when society started to see social mobility in class and gender, as women started to demand for
equality and began the suffrage movement
● Beforehand, women would biome property of their husbands upon marriage with no right to divorce, and were married off by their
brothers or fathers as financial burden
● The poem was set in the Italian Resistance when art was heavily valued among the society
Form:
● Written in first person narrative in present tense → enables the narrator to control what he tells the reader, suggesting unreliability and
biases or exaggeration in his narrative - reflect the power of the Duke, both politically and over his wives
● Perspective is entirely the Duke’s → reflects the controlling and dominating presence of the Duke, readers are given a one-sided
account as the Duchess’s side of the story is not told - implies the lack of feminine narrative in the Victorian society as women were
politically silenced since they had no right to vote or hold power outside of the home - Browning is criticising the Duke’s abuse of power
over his wife and so the inequality between men and women in his society
Structure:
● Traditional iambic Pentameter → gives a conversational tone, like the heartbeat, symbolises the Duke’s pride and superiority, also
reflects how the Duke holds traditional views about women
● Dramatic Monologue, narrated by the imaginary Duke
● Single stanza → sense of being overwhelmed by the Duke’s presence as he is dominating, lack of control over himself and also when
, he tries to exert control over others, suggests the poem is the Duke’s stream of consciousness and demonstrates his unfiltered thoughts
and feelings
● Use of rhyming couplets → The Duke’s desire for control by using carefully considered and refined speech
Key Quotes:
‘That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive’
● Possessive pronoun ‘my’ → as if the duke owns the duchess herself, not only the painting, the Duke’s control over the duchess’ life, the
duke is possessive over his wife as he feels everything must be for him alone and he desires the feeling oc exclusive ownership →
invokes the reader’s interest as it raises questions such as why is it his ‘last duchess’ → establishes his control over his wife, she is like
a possession, not an individual
● Simile → creates a sinister tone, giving hints to the reader that the last duchess is dead
‘None puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I’
● His control over who can look at his painting, but he was unable to control who looked at his wife when she was alive
● He is threatened by other men enjoying her presence and beauty which highlights the absolute control he had over her, not just over
her life, but over her death and memory after death
● Drawing the curtains can be metaphorically symbolising his control over her death as he ended her life like how he closed the curtain of
her painting
‘Too soon made glad, Too easily impressed’
● Anaphora → the duke is annoyed and angry at his duchess as she is too easily pleased and wooed by other men and he accuses her of
cheating, hence why he killed her. Demonstrates his lack of control over his wife.
● He is envious and jealous that his wife is flirting with other men
‘My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name’**
● The Duke’s only pride of his family name, shows he holds status and power within society, and he felt his wife disrespected and shamed
his family name as he accuses her of cheating
● Reflects the lack of control and power of women as the women is owned by her husband through marriage, as she has to take his name
and loses all legal rights
