Thesis and Outline of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Diana Greene
Liberty University
Thesis Thesis statement: Percy Shelley’s sonnet is somewhat of a twist of the traditional form. Shelley use the pronoun “I”, the first person poetic persona, at the beginning of the sonnet and then he cleverly moves the focus to the third person, “a traveler”, of whose words are incorporated through the last lines of the poem. The mention of a traveler in the poem promises an exciting story to be told. A story of a tyranny and about how time will make a mockery of a boastful and powerful king, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”.
I. The theme of Ozymandias is transience, with some extreme images at the beginning and throughout the poem …show more content…
There are two setting in this poem. The place where the narrator met the traveler is the first setting, in the first line of the poem, “I met a traveler from an antique land”. And the second setting is when the traveler’s story is the focus of the poem and he is telling a tale of the crumbling statue of the Egyptian King, which beginning with the second line of the poem, “who said”.
III. Because this poem seems to be inspired by the statue of Ramses II, there are many references or symbols of the statue described in the poem. Shelley demonstrates the “colossal” size the statue is, is a symbol representing Ramses and the lofty self-promotional royalty and ambition. Shelly also conveys the “legs of stone with no torso”, a “shatter and partially buried head or visage”.
IV. In the second half of this poem, Shelley shifts the tone of it. There is mocking and an it is ironic tone with the expression of words such as, “nothing”, “wreck”, “decay”, “bare”, and “boundless”. These word create images of the ruins that the statue was once monumental and they insinuate the ruins of Ozymandias’ memory.
V. The poem Ozymandias is a Greek name for Ramses II, the title of poem is significant. Why Shelley did not just all it Ramses II of Egypt is really unknown, however, because he studied Greek is what may have inspired …show more content…
Shelley begins with “I met a traveler from an antique land” (Shelley, 1818/2016 p. 565), he uses “I” to begin the sonnet and then he cleverly switches his focus to the third person, the traveler. The audience has been captured, anyone reading this line will automatically be interested to hear a tale of a traveler, returning from his journey with antique stories of his travels, making the poem promising to be exciting. There is also no indication of where this antique land is, it could be in a dream or a daydream of the speaker, or even in some desert that has never been heard of, because right after the initial meeting with the speaker and the traveler we are taken away to the land of Egypt. The speaker is learning from the traveler of a monument, a ruined statue, which was laying eroded, in pieces, broken, and forgotten in the desert. Shelley now uses evocative language to create a powerful image in the minds of the readers. In the second line of the poem a vivid picture is painted for the reader with such words as, “vast” and “trunkless” describing the legs of stone stuck in the sand, illustrating the tyranny and mockery of a boastful and powerful king. Ozymandias resembles a tragic play by Shakespeare, especially the lines of the destruction and the barrenness that would be seen as the curtain
Diana Greene
Liberty University
Thesis Thesis statement: Percy Shelley’s sonnet is somewhat of a twist of the traditional form. Shelley use the pronoun “I”, the first person poetic persona, at the beginning of the sonnet and then he cleverly moves the focus to the third person, “a traveler”, of whose words are incorporated through the last lines of the poem. The mention of a traveler in the poem promises an exciting story to be told. A story of a tyranny and about how time will make a mockery of a boastful and powerful king, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings”.
I. The theme of Ozymandias is transience, with some extreme images at the beginning and throughout the poem …show more content…
There are two setting in this poem. The place where the narrator met the traveler is the first setting, in the first line of the poem, “I met a traveler from an antique land”. And the second setting is when the traveler’s story is the focus of the poem and he is telling a tale of the crumbling statue of the Egyptian King, which beginning with the second line of the poem, “who said”.
III. Because this poem seems to be inspired by the statue of Ramses II, there are many references or symbols of the statue described in the poem. Shelley demonstrates the “colossal” size the statue is, is a symbol representing Ramses and the lofty self-promotional royalty and ambition. Shelly also conveys the “legs of stone with no torso”, a “shatter and partially buried head or visage”.
IV. In the second half of this poem, Shelley shifts the tone of it. There is mocking and an it is ironic tone with the expression of words such as, “nothing”, “wreck”, “decay”, “bare”, and “boundless”. These word create images of the ruins that the statue was once monumental and they insinuate the ruins of Ozymandias’ memory.
V. The poem Ozymandias is a Greek name for Ramses II, the title of poem is significant. Why Shelley did not just all it Ramses II of Egypt is really unknown, however, because he studied Greek is what may have inspired …show more content…
Shelley begins with “I met a traveler from an antique land” (Shelley, 1818/2016 p. 565), he uses “I” to begin the sonnet and then he cleverly switches his focus to the third person, the traveler. The audience has been captured, anyone reading this line will automatically be interested to hear a tale of a traveler, returning from his journey with antique stories of his travels, making the poem promising to be exciting. There is also no indication of where this antique land is, it could be in a dream or a daydream of the speaker, or even in some desert that has never been heard of, because right after the initial meeting with the speaker and the traveler we are taken away to the land of Egypt. The speaker is learning from the traveler of a monument, a ruined statue, which was laying eroded, in pieces, broken, and forgotten in the desert. Shelley now uses evocative language to create a powerful image in the minds of the readers. In the second line of the poem a vivid picture is painted for the reader with such words as, “vast” and “trunkless” describing the legs of stone stuck in the sand, illustrating the tyranny and mockery of a boastful and powerful king. Ozymandias resembles a tragic play by Shakespeare, especially the lines of the destruction and the barrenness that would be seen as the curtain