Notes on Ozymandias

1
Notes on Ozymandias

• Mr. Cleon M. McLean
• A.P. English
• Ontario High School

2
Grammar

• Rather than say obviously, which has a ring of
  arrogance and offense, simply say clearly,
  which works as a euphemism
• vis-à-vis means facing one another, or in
  relation to
• tete-a-tete (French for head to head) means a
  private conversation or interview, usually
  between two people
• in full stead also means in the face of

3
FYI

• Ozymandia is a Romanic poem
• Another word for poet is bard. The Bard is
  Shakespeare
• What is the distinction between speaker and
  subject in a poem? Speakertelling the poem
  subjectperson or thing around whom/which the
  poem is centered
• Which is better to say
• The author uses symbols (bluecorrect)
• The author uses symbolism

4
FYI

• What is wrong with the following
• This poem shows solitude
• This poem has synecdoche
• (both of the above are TELLING (which is a weak
  way to write), instead of SHOWING (which is a
  strong way to write)you show by explaining
  HOW/WHY)
• Why quote the entire inscription on the statue?
  The reader of your essay will also have a copy of
  the poem

5
Spelling

• Because we write, we have writingNOT
  writting
• JUDGMENT is spelt without an e after the
  gunlike judge
• desserta condiment you eat after a main course.
  E.g., cheese cake, ice-cream
• deserta barren land mass

6
from Sophocles Antigone

• Creon. My voice is the one voicing giving orders
  in this city!
• Haimon. It is no city if it takes orders from one
  voice.
• Creon. The state is the king!
• Haimon. Yes, if the state is a desert.
• In the above excerpt, King Creon clearly
  demonstrates his unbridled arrogance, which is
  checked with Haimons retort.

7
On the essay

• What is awkward about the following
• Shelley is able to show how nature
• No need to comment on the aesthetics of the work
  or the mastery of the author. Everything we
  cover in this class is classical or of literary
  merit, so just focus on the how and why of the
  work.
• Why not state that Ramses IIs hubris is undone
  by the winds of time?

8
On the essay, continued

• Literary terms to know and use
• Synecdoche and metonymy
• Denotation and connotation
• Symbols are effective because while their
  denotative meanings are secure (de facto), their
  connotative meanings are fluidebbing and flowing
  with time itself.
• Romantic ideas in Ozymandias
• Exotic landscape
• First person experience
• Ruins from antiquities
• Solitude
• Natures creative and destructive forces