Ozymandias

Description

GCSE English Lit (Anthology / poetry) Mind Map on Ozymandias, created by princessscout on 20/05/2013.
princessscout
Mind Map by princessscout, updated more than 1 year ago
princessscout
Created by princessscout almost 11 years ago
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Resource summary

Ozymandias
  1. Story line
    1. The narrator meets a traveller who tells him about a statue standing in the middle of the desert
      1. It's a statue of a powerful king who used to rule here
        1. His face is proud and arrogantly boasts about how great he is in an inscription in the base of the statue
          1. However the statue has crumbled away and only ruins remain
            1. The statue ruins are all that remains of the king.
            2. Form and structure
              1. It's a sonnet with an unusual rhyme scheme
                1. unusual rhyme scheme suggests things are out of balance
                  1. The narrator builds up an image by focusing on different parts of it the statue.
                    1. It's a second hand account which distances the reader further from the dead king
                      1. Poem ends by describing an enourmous desert helping to show insignificance of the statue
                        1. Uses iambic pentameter and enjambment so that the poem flows like natural speech

                          Attachments:

                        2. Language
                          1. IRONY
                            1. Nothing left to show for the rulers arrogant boasting
                              1. Ruined statue is a metaphor for all human life
                                1. All human achievements are insignificant because our lives are so short compared with with the universe
                                2. Desert represents the universe which stretches on and exists long after our lives and rulers arrogance has been destroyed
                                3. CONTRAST
                                  1. theres a contrast between the arrogant king who thought he was the mightiest ruler and the powerful destruction of the statue over time
                                    1. Human achievements like cities statues are all temporary - contrasts with the desert which is lifeless but enduring
                                    2. ANGRY LANGUAGE
                                      1. tyranny of the ruler is suggested through aggresive language
                                    3. My ideas
                                      1. Antique land can be used to represent the way the land lives on long after each civilisation is destroyed
                                        1. I think it has been used by the ruler as he believes nothing to remain in comparison to his rule as he is the top of everything
                                          1. It could be used now as a form of irony as nothing besides the ruins remains in the vast desert
                                          2. The alliteration in the last 2 lines emphasises the feeling of empty space in the surrounding desert
                                            1. The poem suggests that he was a cruel ruler and that he was not liked much as he was arrogant and thought more abut himself than the others
                                            2. Feelings and Attitudes
                                              1. POWER
                                                1. human life is insignificant compared to the passing of time
                                                  1. time is so powerful
                                                    1. time can destroy civilisations and make human achievement appear temporary
                                                    2. ARROGANCE
                                                      1. the inscription shows he believed he was most powerful ruler in the land
                                                        1. nobody else could compete with him
                                                          1. ge thought he was better than those he ruled
                                                          2. PRIDE
                                                            1. the ruler was proud of what he achieved
                                                              1. he called on others to admire what he did
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