Page 60 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Ozymandias”
by Percy Bysshe Shelley, page 35

Vocabulary
visage – countenance
sneer – scorn

1. The rhyme and metrical scheme is what poetic form?

The poem is a fourteen line sonnet written in iambic pentameter.

2. What is the poem’s subject matter? What is the subject a metaphor of?

The poem takes as its subject the shattered statue of a former ruler. The statue is a
metaphor of the pride and greed (hubris) of humanity and political leaders.

3. What remains of the statue? What may Shelley be saying by having such remains?

All that remains of the state are “two vast and trunkless legs of stone,” a decapitated and
worn head, and the words on the statue’s base. The only intact remains are the words,
which may suggest that language outlasts people and power.

4. What type of king was Ozymandias?

Ozymandias is described as a king whose hands mocked his people and whose heart fed off
of them. His visage infers that he was a cold, domineering leader. His words suggest
egotism and pride.

5. How is irony functioning in this poem?

There is verbal irony functioning in this poem. On the pedestal of the collapsed sculpture,
the words read, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty,
and despair!” The irony lies in the fact that, as the speaker says, “Nothing beside
remains.” There is no one around to look on the works of Ozymandias; the person who
would feel the most despair at the situation is Ozymandias himself.

T-42