GCSE English Literature
Poetry Notes:
‘Ozymandias’ - Shelley (1818) - POWER
(title) Greek etymology: ozium, to breathe + air and mandate, to rule → control even in title
(title) inspired by recent unearthing of Ramses II, a pharaoh, believing his legacy would
last forever
allegory: statue broken and falling apart → every powerful person will also drift away,
forgotten
however, art remains links to (context) of the Romantic Era
a criticism of tyrannical government links to (context) of the Romantic Era + King George
III
(tone) ironic + exotic tone of a lost legend
Context: Romantic Era:
reaction to order and rationalism
radical views → rejection of religion
critisised royal fame → eg. King George III
‘ ”My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” ’
(repet.) ‘king’ → narcissistic
(adj.) ‘mighty’ → strength, vain, arrogance also (juxt.) of remains
(strc.) excl. mark → strong emotion also (tone) strong + punchy
(strc.) volta, shift → last 6 lines engage and explain
Language: ‘Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,’
(juxt.) ‘colossal wreck’ → huge disaster
(allit.) ‘boundless and bare’ → conveys the sense that nothing remains of this
arrogant tyrant, emphasises emptiness
Structure: - sonnet of 14 lines
self-love → ironic, joke about ruler’s ego
- loose iambic pentameter
vague rhythm to tale
- irregular rhyming scheme
symbolic of the broken statue, no longer perfect
‘I met a traveller from an antique land’
(pp.) narrator → story-telling + truth-telling also veracity
(adj.) ‘antique’ → old + precious
(noun) ‘traveller’ → exotic
(tone) almost boastful
(context) ‘I met’ → not an open criticism, thinly veiled attack
Imagery: ‘And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
facial imagery
(allit.) ‘cold command’ → ‘c’ sounds reflect harsh tone
(noun) ‘sneer’ → cruel + ugly
Link To: ‘My Last Duchess’ - power, arrogance + are or ‘London’ - Romantic Era
one clear voice
about a character with distinctly unpleasant qualities
dark nature
both focuses are history
‘London’ - Blake (1794) - POWER
(title) ‘hub of power’
(tone) fixed + monotonous
rebelling about the misuse of power and class, exposing the distance between those
in power and those who are suffering
, Context: Romantic Era:
imagination > reason
negative attitude to social and political conditions, the Industrial Revolution
focus on nature, childhood + the socially marginalised
enthusiasm for the French Revolution (1794)
Language: ‘I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow.’
(repet.) ‘chartered’ + ‘marks’ → similarity, boringness + monotony of life
without imagination also river controlled, regulation of nature
‘And the hapless soldier’s sigh’
(adj.) ‘hapless’ → unfortunate (context) repeated appearance of socially
marginalised
(sib.) tired + weary feel
Structure: - four even quatrains
regulated + monotonous, cyclical structure
- ‘abab’ rhyming pattern
fixed + boring also implies order
- cyclical structure
repeated, inescapable suffering
Imagery: ‘Runs in blood down palace walls.’
strong + violent imagery
(context) poor suffers for rich - the French Revolution
‘In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,’
(rep.) sound imagery, ‘I hear’ + ‘cry’ → extent of widespread pain + suffering
(context) ‘infant’ → childhood
Link To: ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ - use of repetition
‘Checking Out Me History’ - power
‘The Prelude’ - Wordsworth - POWER + CONFLICT
(title) ‘hub of power’
(tone) fixed + monotonous
part one of a three-part poem - never finished
how he stole a boat, a mountain peak loomed over him gradually, troubling him for
days afterwards
Context: Romantic Era:
lived in the Lake District - went outdoors to escape cruel family
embrace of the natural world
focus on nature, childhood + the socially marginalised
enthusiasm for the French Revolution (1794)
Language: ‘I wander through each chartered street,
Poetry Notes:
‘Ozymandias’ - Shelley (1818) - POWER
(title) Greek etymology: ozium, to breathe + air and mandate, to rule → control even in title
(title) inspired by recent unearthing of Ramses II, a pharaoh, believing his legacy would
last forever
allegory: statue broken and falling apart → every powerful person will also drift away,
forgotten
however, art remains links to (context) of the Romantic Era
a criticism of tyrannical government links to (context) of the Romantic Era + King George
III
(tone) ironic + exotic tone of a lost legend
Context: Romantic Era:
reaction to order and rationalism
radical views → rejection of religion
critisised royal fame → eg. King George III
‘ ”My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” ’
(repet.) ‘king’ → narcissistic
(adj.) ‘mighty’ → strength, vain, arrogance also (juxt.) of remains
(strc.) excl. mark → strong emotion also (tone) strong + punchy
(strc.) volta, shift → last 6 lines engage and explain
Language: ‘Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,’
(juxt.) ‘colossal wreck’ → huge disaster
(allit.) ‘boundless and bare’ → conveys the sense that nothing remains of this
arrogant tyrant, emphasises emptiness
Structure: - sonnet of 14 lines
self-love → ironic, joke about ruler’s ego
- loose iambic pentameter
vague rhythm to tale
- irregular rhyming scheme
symbolic of the broken statue, no longer perfect
‘I met a traveller from an antique land’
(pp.) narrator → story-telling + truth-telling also veracity
(adj.) ‘antique’ → old + precious
(noun) ‘traveller’ → exotic
(tone) almost boastful
(context) ‘I met’ → not an open criticism, thinly veiled attack
Imagery: ‘And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command’
facial imagery
(allit.) ‘cold command’ → ‘c’ sounds reflect harsh tone
(noun) ‘sneer’ → cruel + ugly
Link To: ‘My Last Duchess’ - power, arrogance + are or ‘London’ - Romantic Era
one clear voice
about a character with distinctly unpleasant qualities
dark nature
both focuses are history
‘London’ - Blake (1794) - POWER
(title) ‘hub of power’
(tone) fixed + monotonous
rebelling about the misuse of power and class, exposing the distance between those
in power and those who are suffering
, Context: Romantic Era:
imagination > reason
negative attitude to social and political conditions, the Industrial Revolution
focus on nature, childhood + the socially marginalised
enthusiasm for the French Revolution (1794)
Language: ‘I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow.’
(repet.) ‘chartered’ + ‘marks’ → similarity, boringness + monotony of life
without imagination also river controlled, regulation of nature
‘And the hapless soldier’s sigh’
(adj.) ‘hapless’ → unfortunate (context) repeated appearance of socially
marginalised
(sib.) tired + weary feel
Structure: - four even quatrains
regulated + monotonous, cyclical structure
- ‘abab’ rhyming pattern
fixed + boring also implies order
- cyclical structure
repeated, inescapable suffering
Imagery: ‘Runs in blood down palace walls.’
strong + violent imagery
(context) poor suffers for rich - the French Revolution
‘In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,’
(rep.) sound imagery, ‘I hear’ + ‘cry’ → extent of widespread pain + suffering
(context) ‘infant’ → childhood
Link To: ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ - use of repetition
‘Checking Out Me History’ - power
‘The Prelude’ - Wordsworth - POWER + CONFLICT
(title) ‘hub of power’
(tone) fixed + monotonous
part one of a three-part poem - never finished
how he stole a boat, a mountain peak loomed over him gradually, troubling him for
days afterwards
Context: Romantic Era:
lived in the Lake District - went outdoors to escape cruel family
embrace of the natural world
focus on nature, childhood + the socially marginalised
enthusiasm for the French Revolution (1794)
Language: ‘I wander through each chartered street,
