OZYMANDIAS - POEM AT A GLANCE
The poet meets a traveler from an ancient land.
The traveler tells the poet that he has seen two huge trunk-less legs of stone standing in the desert.
Near those legs lay a shattered and half buried face in the sand.
The face of the statue showed signs of contempt and cold command on it.
It seems that the workmanship of the sculptor who made the statue, was of a very high order.
The sculptor had read those passions of the living man quite well. He stamped those passions exactly on the lifeless stones.
On the pedestal of the statue the following words are written:
“My name is Ozymandias, Kings of Kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty,and despair!”
Only boundless and bare sand is spreading all around the broken statue and the shattered face of Ozymandias.
LITERARY DEVICES IN THE POEM
Alliteration
• Sneer of cold command
• Survive, stamped on these lifeless things
• The lone and level sands stretch far away
• Boundless and bare
Rhyme
• Its rhyme-scheme consists of an octave(a set of eight lines) and a sestet (a set of six lines)
• The rhyme-scheme does not follow any of the recognized pattern, and some of the rhymes are faulty (for instance, stone and frown; appear and despair).
Images
(i) Near them, on the sand Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
(ii) Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare.
The lone and level sands stretch far away
In the first image, the poet paints the picture of the broken statue, a huge wreck,the face of which still wears a frown and the sneer of cold command.
In the second image, the poet paints the picture of the lone and level desert, boundless and bare, stretching far away.
Synecdoche
• It is a figure of speech in which substitution of a part stands for the whole or the whole stands for the part.
E.g. the hand that mocked them.
Question : What impression do you form of Ozymadias after reading the poem?
Ans: He was mighty proud of his great works and wonderful achievements. The author mighty persons would feel so insignificant and despair.
Question : Describe the facial expression of the broken statue?
Ans: He was powerful and mighty. On the other hand their was the expression of scorn and hostility, wrinkled face and contempt.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Question. Whom did the narrator meet? Where?
Answer: The narrator met a traveler from and ancient country, i.e. Egypt
Question. What did the traveler tell the narrator?
Answer: The traveler told the narrator that he had seen two huge and trunk less legs of a statue in the desert. There lay the broken face of a statue near them. One could see the expression of arrogance and a sense of authority which had been skillfully depicted on the statue by the sculptor.
Question. What was inscribed on the pedestal?
Answer: The inscription on the pedestal was:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair.
Question. What did the sculptor observe about the king?
Answer: The sculptor observed that the king was proud, vain and arrogant. He had the sense of authority.
Question. How did the sculptor capture the kings feeling?
Answer: The sculptor made a statue of the king on which he skillfully depicted the expression of haughtiness and a sense of authority.
Question. Explain the touch of melancholy about the poem.
Answer: There is a touch of melancholy about the poem because it makes us reflect over the vanity of human wishes and the failure of all our efforts to keep our memory alive for ever.
Question. Explain the two pictures painted by the poet in his poem.
Answer: The first picture refers to the broken statue. Though the statue lies broken in the desert, It carries the frown and the sneer cold command of the king on its face.
Question. What is the theme of the poem?
Answer: The poet wants to convey that human glory and pomp are not everlasting.Ozymandias, the king of Egypt, got his statue made in order to immortalize himself. But time played havoc with his statue and now it lies broken and disfigured in a desert. Thus, the poet illustrates the vanity of human greatness and the failure of all attempts to immortalize human grandeur.
Question. What impression do you form of the sculptor?
Answer: The sculptor appears to be very competent, skillfully and observant. He observed that the king was vain, proud, and arrogant and had a sense of authority. So he captured the feelings and passions of the king in the statue of the king very skillfully.
VALUE BASED QUESTION
Question. The poem Ozymandias illustrates the vanity of human greatness.
Discuss with reference to the lines given below.
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look upon my works, ye Mighty,despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare. The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Answer: Ozymandias is a sonnet by P.B. Shelley. It conveys the idea that human glory and greatness are short lived. Time works havoc with monuments and statues made by the kings to immortalize their name and fame. Thus, the poem depicts the fertility of human glory and greatness.
Ozymandias was a great Egyptian king. He made his statue to immortalize his name and fame. With the passage of time his glory and greatness disappeared. His life-like statue lay in ruins in a desert.
A traveler from Egypt notices the broken statue of the king Ozymnadias. He finds two huge and trunk less legs of the statue standing on a platform in a lonely desert. Near them lies, half-buried, the broken face of the statue. He sees the expression of arrogance and sense of authority on the face of the statue. It was the artist's hand which reproduced the king's feelings on the face of the statue. But it was the king's heart which nourished those feelings in his heart. The following words were written on the pedestal:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings
The words reflect that Ozymandias was a king of kings but he did not realize that the human pride and arrogance cannot live long. There s no trace of his kingdom or greatness anywhere.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
Read the extracts given below and answer the following questions by choosing the most appropriate answer:
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said, Two vast and trunk less legs of stone
Stand in the desert…………….near them, on the sand
Half sunk, shattered visage lies…………………………..
Question. The traveler who met the narrator came from
(a) A palace.
(b) An ancient land
(c) A desert
(d) A forest
Answer: B
Question. The traveler sees two vast and trunk less legs of stone in
(a) A forest
(b) A desert
(c) A city
(d) The wilderness
Answer: B
Question. What did the traveler see lying on the sand?
(a) Two trunk less legs of stone
(b) Half-sunk statue
(c) Half-sunk and broken face of statue
(d) Broken legs of a statue
Answer: C
(2)
.…whose frown
And that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive…
Question. The expression on the face of the statue is one of
(a) Admiration
(b) Anger
(c) Despair
(d) Contempt
Answer: D
Question. The sculptor was able to understand Ozymandiass
(a) Words
(b) Expressions
(c) Feelings
(d) Ambition
Answer: C
Question. What literary device does the poet use in the second line?
(a) Alliteration
(b) Metaphor
(c) Image
(d) Symbol
Answer: A
EXTRACT BASED COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
Read the following extracts and answer the given question:
…stamped on these lifeless things
(1) The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear,My name is Ozymandias, king of Kings,Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair
(i) What literary device does the poet use in ht second line?
(ii) Who should look on Ozymandiass work and despair?
(iii) What does the hand here refer to?
Answers
(i) It is synecdoche.
(ii) The powerful kings are asked to look on Ozymandiass work and despair.
(iii) The hand refers to the sculptor who carved the statue.
(2) Who said, Two vast and trunk less legs of stone
Stand in the desert .Near them, on the sand
Half-sunk, a shattered visage lie..
(i) Who had the poet met?
(ii) In which state was the statue lying?
(iii) Where was the visage seen and in which condition?
Answers
(i) The poet had met a traveler from an ancient land.
(ii) The statue was lying neglected in a desert.
(iii) The visage was lying half-buried near the statue in a desert.
