Ozymandias (CIE IGCSE English Literature)

The poetry anthologies for CIE IGCSE contain 15 poems. In Paper 1, you will be given a choice of two poetry exam questions. Each question will be based on one of the 15 poems in your anthology, and each of the two questions will feature the poem printed in full. You only have to answer one of these two questions. Because there are so many text options in this IGCSE, it is really important that you read through the exam instructions carefully, and make sure you have selected the correct questions and poems according to what you have studied. Fifteen poems is a lot to revise. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages the poet wanted to convey
• How the poet conveys these ideas and messages through their methods
• The different possible interpretations of the poem

Below is a guide to Percy Shelley’s poem Ozymandias, from the Songs of Ourselves Volume 1, Part 4 anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s Methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods

Understanding the text: an exploration of characters, relationships, situations and themes, with relevant background information

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Shelley’s intention and message

Ozymandias in a nutshell

Ozymandias was written by the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1817. It explores the idea that all power is temporary, no matter how powerful or tyrannical the ruler, and that ultimately nature is more powerful than any human power.

Ozymandias breakdown

Lines 1-2

“I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said -”

Translation

• The poem begins in the first person, but then instantly passes any responsibility for the opinions within the poem on to a stranger
• The narrator meets an unnamed traveller, and the poem is then recounted from the stranger’s perspective

Shelley’s intention

• Shelley was anti-monarchy and felt that the king at the time of writing, King George III, had outstayed his welcome
• Shelley probably wanted to distance himself from the political messages of the poem, so he opened his poem with the detached narrative of a traveller
• Shelley also used Ozymandias as an allegory for King George III:
• The detached narrator meant that Shelley was free to comment on the monarchy as he wished, because the views were being presented as the views of someone else

Lines 2-5

“-Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert…Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,”

Translation

• The traveller then tells of a ruined statue standing in the middle of the desert
• The statue is of a king, Ramesses II, also known as Ozymandias, who ruled over a once-great Egyptian civilisation
• Only the legs and the enormous face (the “visage”) remain
• The traveller only describes the mouth, with a “frown”, “wrinkled lip” and “sneer of cold command”

Shelley’s intention

• Shelley is commenting that all that remains of this great and powerful ruler are legs and a “shattered” visage, which creates a sense of irony:
• This is ironic because Ozymandias’s power and pride were based on his image of being a great and powerful ruler, and yet now all that remains are broken parts of a statue
• The poem portrays a king who believed strongly in his own power and superiority, and who tried to immortalise his power through his statue
• The “frown”, “wrinkled lip” and “sneer” of cold command suggest the cruelty and heartlessness of the ruler, who was arrogant and had nothing but contempt for his subjects:
• This is reflective of Shelley’s own anti-military and anti-monarchy stance
• Yet this statue has now been destroyed by time, and the king largely forgotten

Lines 6-8

“Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;”

Translation

• The reader then learns of the sculptor, who “well those passions read”, meaning that he could see beneath Ozymandias’s cold, commanding exterior to his passionate rage to “stamp” himself on the world
• When the poet refers to “The hand that mocked them”, he is implying that the sculptor knew Ozymandias’s true and ultimately futile nature
• The sculptor created the statue in a way that portrayed the cruelty of the king

Shelley’s intention

• The poem presents negative views about power used to impose individual will
• It also comments on the arrogance and pride that can come from the type of tyrannical power in which the ruler wishes only to be known for his perceived greatness

Lines 9-11

“And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Translation

• There is an inscription on the base of the statue, with the arrogant claim that he is “King of Kings”
• The inscription invites everyone, especially his “Mighty” enemies, to look at what he has achieved as a ruler, and to know that he believes that he is all powerful and cannot be defeated

Shelley’s intention

• The irony here is that the statue is falling apart and decaying, so that only the ruins remain
• The poet is showing how power deteriorates and does not last forever:
• Even great empires which seem to be eternal can fade to nothingness

Lines 12-14

“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Translation

• The ruins of the enormous statue lie alone in an endless, featureless desert

Shelley’s intention

• The power of the natural world is also evident in this poem
• Sand and the desert are used as a metaphor for the passing of time:

They also suggest the impermanence of human constructions against the ultimate power of nature

Although this section is organised into three separate sections - form, structure and language - it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Shelley’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

The poem is written in the form of a 14-line sonnet, which blends both Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms, in order to comment on human power and pride.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Established power structures	The poem takes the traditional 14-line form of a Petrarchan sonnet, but uses an irregular rhyme scheme and consistent iambic pentameter, which is more typical of Shakespearean sonnets	The irregular rhyme scheme breaks away from the sonnet form, which enables Shelley to imply how poetry and literature can defy tradition and give way to new power
		He is demonstrating that established power structures can be changed
	A sonnet is typically a love poem from a man to his lover	It could also be argued that this “love poem” is reflective of the pride and love Ozymandias has for himself, and not his subjects

Structure

Shelley uses the structure of Ozymandias to comment on the temporary nature of all human power when compared to the power of God or nature.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Futility and impermanence of human power	In line 3 of the poem, Shelley uses a technique called a caesura; a pause that occurs in a line of poetry, marked by the use of ellipsis	With this technique, the sonnet comes to a halt in the middle of the line
		Shelley uses the caesura to represent the breaking up of the statue
	Shelley also uses enjambment in the poem alongside the caesura	This creates an uneven pattern reflecting the broken nature of the statue, as well as the fact that nothing can last forever
	All of the lines have 10 syllables, except line 10, “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings”, which has 11	This suggests that the ruler believes himself to be more important than all others, perhaps even God
	The poet uses a short sentence: “Nothing beside remains.”	Shelley does this perhaps to symbolise the finality of death and decay

Language

Shelley uses his choice of techniques and language to compare the ultimately futile nature of human power on the one hand with the overwhelming and everlasting power of nature on the other.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Futility and imperfection of human power	The statue can be seen as a representation of human power	It is a king’s attempt to evade death and cement himself in history, yet it lies broken as a “colossal wreck”
	The “cold command” of the statue’s sneer reflects Ozymandias’s cold and cruel nature	This is also reflective of Shelley’s own anti-military stance, as he was against the “cold commands” of military action
	The inscription orders others to “look on my works”	This is ironic, as they no longer exist
	The setting of the desert is symbolic, as the land that surrounds the ruined statue is a vast, featureless wasteland, without any life or culture	The emptiness of the desert is symbolic of how his reign was ultimately pointless and insignificant, as he has been forgotten by history
Power of nature	The desert is described as “boundless and bare” and “lone and level”	This communicates the vast, powerful extent of nature and its ability to outlive all other forms of power
	Shelley uses alliteration such as “lone and level”	This demonstrates the vast, unending power of the desert, and to contrast the limited power of man
	Shelley uses the “sands stretch far away” as a metaphor	This shows the passing of time, and how time can erase the power of man

All questions in the IGCSE encourage an informed, personal response, which means that it is not enough just to know the poem itself really well; you also need to develop a sound understanding of the themes, main ideas, settings, situations and events depicted. While context is not explicitly assessed in the IGCSE, an awareness of background information as relevant to the main themes in the poem can help you to develop a sustained, critical understanding of the text, so that you are able to demonstrate individuality and insight in your answer. Therefore, this section has been divided into two main themes that Shelley explores in Ozymandias:

• The Nature of Human Power

• The Power of Nature

The Nature of Human Power

• Shelley was a radical Romantic poet, who was strongly anti-monarchy, a pacifist and someone who supported social justice
• He rejected institutions of power, and his poetry was used to spread messages and political ideas which needed to be accessible to all:
• Shelley wrote Ozymandias to comment on the temporary and ultimately futile nature of human power
• He was also against the monarchy and institutions that represented power and authority
• There are several historical references in the poem:
• The first is to the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, who used the throne name Ozymandias:
• Ramesses II thought himself to be a very powerful ruler, and is remembered for his tyranny and military exploits, as well as having a large empire over Egypt
• King George III was also an influence in this poem, as he was king of England at the time of writing:
• He engaged in military conflicts and was remembered for oppression and tyranny
• Many believed he had outstayed his welcome
• Shelley was a pacifist and positioned himself against George’s military exploits:
• This is reflected in the “sneer of cold command” that initiates military actions
• The poem also touches on how human power, by its nature, can corrupt and ultimately doesn’t last:
• The decay of the statue reflects how exploits which are impressive, but not morally good, will be criticised and forgotten about after they end
• Overall, the poet is criticising power, arrogance and pride, as represented by Ozymandias:
• It mocks rulers past, present and future for thinking they will be any different from rulers that have gone before
• Shelley was also perhaps criticising systems in which any one individual is given so much power that, despite their abuse of it, the population are unable to remove them 
• He is also criticising all power being centred on a person who obtains their importance from an image, and perceived divine right to power
• The poem also explores the conflict between humans and memory, as Ozymandias was largely forgotten, even though he thought his memory would last forever
• The poem also touches on the lasting power of art and words:
• Many people may not have remembered Ozymandias, but part of the statue remained, as well as the words placed on the inscription

The Power of Nature 

• Certain key themes dominated the poetry of the Romantic era, such as the concept of the sublime:
• This term conveys the feelings people experience when they see awesome landscapes, or find themselves in extreme situations which create feelings of both fear and admiration
• By describing the desert as “boundless and bare” and “lone and level”, Shelley communicates the vast, powerful extent of nature:
• He also comments on nature’s ability to outlive all other forms of power (and deem them insignificant by comparison)
• The “boundless” desert easily outlives the now-forgotten king Ozymandias