3. Name:
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Famous as:-Romantic and Lyric
Poet.
Born on:-04 August 1792.
Born in:-Horsham, England.
Died on:-08 July 1822.
Nationality:-United Kingdom.
Works & Achievements:-The
Revolt of Islam, The Masque of
Anarchy and Men of England.
4. MORE ABOUT THE POET (CONT.)
On 10 April 1810, he matriculated at University
College, Oxford. Legend has it that Shelley attended
only one lecture while at Oxford, but frequently read
sixteen hours a day. His first publication was
a Gothic novel, Zastrozzi (1810), in which he vented
his early atheistic worldview through the villain
Zastrozzi. In the same year, Shelley, together with
his sister Elizabeth, published Original Poetry by
Victor and Cazire. While at Oxford, he issued a
collection of verses (ostensibly burlesque but quite
subversive), Posthumous Fragments of Margaret
Nicholson, with Thomas Jefferson Hogg.
5. HISTORY OF OZYMANDIAS
Written in 1817 during a writing contest
against Horace Smith.
First published in 11/Jan/1818 in Leigh
Hunt‟s Examiner.
Thought to be inspired by the arrival of the
statue of “younger Memnon” in Britain.
A „classic‟ poem which has been studied
and dissected countless times in the
subject of English ever since its creation.
6.
7.
8. The poet happened to come across a
person who had been to a ancient
country in the deserts. The traveller
described to the poet an intriguing
sight that had caught his attention
there. He said that he saw a
dilapidated status in the vast expanse
of the desert. Only two stone legs
stood mounted on a very huge and
high pedestal. The trunk of the statue
9. Just below the pedestal there was a
half buried face of the statue.
The face wore a very scornful
expression. Its inhospitable, heartless
and dispassionate looks revealed the
talent of the skilful sculptor who
successfully captured all nuances of this
cold countenance. Down below the
pedestal, Ozymandias‟s pompous claim
of being the mightiest of the mighty was
engraved. The neglected, shattered
statue highlighted the irony of the
10. Time had wiped out all the power, position
and statues of this self-styled „mighty‟ king.
The passage of years pushed him into
oblivion, and today there was no trace of
his strength and superiority in the vast
desert. As far as the eye could see there
was nothing but expansive stretches of
sand all over commenting upon the allpervasive and long lasting power of nature
and the ephemerality of man.
11.
12. Q.1 Answer the following questions by
ticking the correct options.
(A) The poem is set in
(i)the wilderness
(ii)an ancient land
(iii)a place
(iv)a desert
(B) The expression on the face of the
statue is one of
(i)admiration
(ii)anger
13. (iii)despair
(iv)contempt
(C) This poem throws light on the nature of
Ozymandias
(i)cruel
(ii)arrogant
(iii)boastful
(iv)aggressive
(D)The sculptor was able to understand
Ozymandias
(i)words
(ii)expression
15. Q.2 Answer the following questions
briefly.
(a) “The hand that mocked them, and
the heart that fed.”Whose hand and
heart has the poet referred to in this line?
(b)”My name is Ozymandias, king of
kings:”Why does Ozymandias refer to
himself as king of kings?What quality of
the king is revealed through this
statement.
16. (c)“Look on my works, ye mighty, and
despair!”Who is Ozymandias referring
to when he speaks of ye mighy?Why
should despair?
(d)Bring out the irony in the poem.
(e)„Nothing beside remains.‟what does
the narrator mean when he says
these words?
17. (f) What is your impression of
Ozymandias as a king?
(g) What message is conveyed
through this poem?
