60. AltE HS2nd Yr- Ozymandias(45)
1. Who wrote Ozymandias?
A:- P. B. Shelley wrote "Ozymandias".
2. Who was Ozymandias?
A:- Ozymandias was an Egyptian king or pharaoh Ramses II.
3. What was inscribed on the the statue? What does it convey?
A:- "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!" are the words inscribed on the statue. The words convey that he was proud and brags that he was incomparable and impossible to be defeated.
4. What is the sonnet all about?
A:- The sonnet is all about the statement of insignificance of human life to the passage of time. It condemns the arrogance of power. It also reminds that nothing lasts forever.
6. What does the poet convey?
A:- Ozymandias' time is gone. The civilization of his times is turned to dust. The poet conveys the destructive power of history. The statue is only a ruined state of pride.
7. Where did he write it?
A:- Shelley wrote 'Ozymandias' when he was in Marlow.
8. Is it a sonnet?
A:- Yes, 'Ozymandias' is a sonnet.
9. On whom is Ozymandias based?
A:- The sonnet "Ozymandias" by P. B. Shelley is based on the statue of an Egyptian king.
10. How was the condition of the statue?
A:- The statue was in shattered and ruined condition.
11. Whom does the poet?
A:- The poet meets a traveller from an antique land.
12. What kind of a place is the land visited by the traveller?
A:- The place is a desert.
13. What are the two settings of the poem?
A:- The first setting is the place where narrator meets the traveller and the second setting is the place where ancient civilization existed earlier.
14. What else did the traveller find in the sand?
A:- The traveller found a visage or face half sunk. It had a frown and a wrinkle on the lip. There was a coldness on the face.
15. What is the only thing remaining in the vast desert?
A:- The trunkless legs, the half sunk visage and the words on the pedestal were the only remaining things in the vast desert.
16. What does the poet mean by 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone'?
A:- The poet means just two huge legs made of stone absent of any body.
17. How is the king described?
A:- The king is described as a proud man.
18. "The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed". Whose hand and heart has poet referred to in this line?
A:- Through this line the poet is referring to the sculptor who gave us the distinct expression of the tyrant king Ozymandias who with his pride got finished in the desert.
19. How did the poet come to know about the statue?
A:- The poet came to know about the broken statue of Ozymandias via a person who had met a traveller from an ancient land. The ruined condition of the statue was described by that conveyer.
20. What does "Nothing beside remains" mean?
A:- "Nothing beside remains" means Ozymandias who was once proud, mightiest king is nothing at present. Time also wiped away every trace of his kingdom and there was a vast sandy desert that remained. The piece of art of his statue survived the ravages of time upto a certain limit but then even that statue was in ruins.
21. Identify the figures of speech.
A:- The sonnet is hugely metaphorical. 'King of kings' is a hyperbole. 'Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!' is an example of irony where the king is boastful and proud. But what ultimately remains are stretches of sand.
22. What is the tone of the poem?
A:- The tone of "Ozymandias" is ironic and serious. There is the description of a king who was once haughty due to his success and power. But what lasts today is his ruined statue on an empty desert.
23. P. B. Shelley belonged to which age?
A:- P. B. Shelley belonged to the second generation of the Romantic age of English literature.
24. Who were his contemporaries?
A:- P. B. Shelley's contemporaries were Lord Byron and John Keats. They were the second generation Romantic poets. William Blake, William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge were the first generation Romantic poets.
25. Where was the poet born?
A:- The poet P. B. Shelley was born on 4th August 1792 in Sussex, England.
26. With which other Romantic poet was he friendly with?
A:- He was very intimate with Lord Byron.
27. How was Shelley also known as?
A:- He was also known as 'mad Shelley' or 'Eton atheist'.
28. With who else did he circulate the pamphlet 'The Necessity of Atheism?'
A:- Shelley circulated the 'The Necesssity of Atheism' in 1811 along with Thomas J. Hogg, for which both of them were expelled from Oxford.
29. Who was his first wife?
A:- Harriet Westbrook was his first wife who was 16 yrs old.
30. Who was his second wife?
A: Mary Godwin who was 16 years old was his second wife. She was the daughter of William Godwin.
31. Which beauty is Shelley talking about in his various poems?
A:- Shelley is talking about intellectual beauty. To him, beauty is that which brings social transformation. He can be compared to postcolonial writers who also intend that a work of literature should always be purposive.
32. When and where was the poet born?
A:-The poet was born on 4 August 1792 in Sussex, England.
34. Which country is referred to as "an antique land"?
A:- Egypt is referred to as "an antique land".
35. In the poem, whose "hand mocked them”?
A:- The 'hand' is the hands of the Sculptor who had built the statue of Ozymandias and been able to carve and mock the arrogance and vanity of the king.
36.Who did the narrator meet?
A:-The narrator met a traveller from "an antique land" i.e. Egypt.
37. What is a sonnet?
A: Sonnet is a type of poem containing 14 lines, each of 10 syllables. All the lines rhyme with each other in a fixed pattern.
38. What did the traveller come across in the desert?
A:-The traveller came across the fragmented statue of king Ozymandias lying in the sands of a vast desert. He saw two 'trunkless legs' of stone standing in the desert and the shattered visage of the statue partly buried in the sand.
39. What was exactly inscribed on the pedestal of the statue?
A:- It was inscribed in the pedestal that—
"My name is Ozymandias, King of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
40. Whose greatness is actually glorified in the poem?
A: The greatness of the sculptor who had made the statue of Ozymandias is actually glorified in the poem. The art of the sculptor still remains, while the political power of king Ozymandias is already reduced to dust. Art is permanent.
41. What does "Wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command" signify?
A: In the fragmented statue of Ozymandias sculptor successfully imprinted ‘the wrinkled up and sneer of cold command'. This expression on the face signifies the arrogance of the king and clearly shows how the king must have yielded a lot of power over his subjects. It also clearly exhibits how well the sculptor studied the passions and essence of the kings personality.
42. Describe the condition of the statue that the traveler comes across in the desert.
A:-When the traveller saw the statue of Ozymandias, it was lying fragment in the sands of a vast desert. The two "trunkless legs" of the stone statue was standing in the desert and its shattered visage was partly buried in the sand. The face was imprinted with a frown and a mask of sneer which signifies arrogance of the king and clearly shows how the king must have yielded a lot of power over his subjects. It also clearly exhibits how well the sculptor studied the passions and essence of the king's personality.
On the pedestal of the statue are inscribed the words –
"My name is Ozymandias, King of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."
43. What kind of king was Ozymandias?
A:- Ozymandias was a powerful king. He was proud and arrogant and must have yielded a lot of power over his subject. He built a huge statue in order to immortalize his name and fame. He claimed himself to be the king of kings Ozymandias lived with the belief that other mighty rulers would not be able to attain his greatness.
44. What is the message that the poet wants to convey in the poem?
A:-In the poem, the poet wants to convey that the power and pride of a king is not permanent. The statue of once-powerful king Ozymandias is now lying fragmented in the sands of a vast desert. The might of the king is no longer evident. Neither the king nor his empire remains. All that remains are the ruins of the statue that speak of the artist's greatness.
Through this poem, the poet conveys to the reader the idea of human mortality and the permanence of art.
45. What else remained there besides the broken statue? What does it signify?
A: Nothing else remained beside the broken statue of Ozymandias. Only a ‘shattered visage’ and two ‘trunkless legs’ of stone lying amidst the bound and bare stretch of sand in the desert.
It signifies the ideas of human mortality, the impermanence of political power, and the permanence of any form of art.