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Percy Bysshe Shelley (Form, Structure and Language (Form (The poem is a…
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Form, Structure and Language
Form
The poem is a sonnet, with a volta at line 9 like a Petrarchan sonnet. However, it doesn't follow a regular sonnet rhyme scheme, perhaps reflecting the way that human power and structures can be destroyed. It uses iambic pentameter, but this is also often disrupted. The story is a second-hand account, which distances the reader even further from the dead king.
Structure
The narrator builds up the image of the statue by focusing on different parts of it in turn. The poem ends by describing the enormous desert, which helps to sum up the insignificance of the statue.
Language of power
The poem focuses on the power of Ozymandias, representing human power. However his power has been lost and is only visible due to the power of art. Ultimately, nature has ruined the statue, showing that nature and time have more power than anything else.
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Summary of the poem
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It's a statue of a king who ruled over a past civilisation. His face is proud and he arrogantly boasts about how powerful he is in an inscription on the statue's base.
However, the statue has fallen down and crumbled away so that only the ruins remain.
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Context
Shelley was a "Romantic"poet- Romanticism was a movement that had a big influence on art and literature in the late 1700s and early 1800s. "Romantic" poets believed in emotion rather than reason, they tries to capture intense experiences in their work and particularly focused on the power of nature . Shelley also disliked monarchies, absolute power and the oppression of ordinary people. His radical political views were inspired by the events of the French Revolution.