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| Ozymandias |
| 作者Author / Percy Bysshe Shelley 沛爾希．畢西．雪萊 |
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Study Questions
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| 1. logical structure |
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*Ozymandias, or Ramese II, was pharaoh of Egypt in the thirteenth century B.C.
1. The poem, as an Italian sonnet, can be divided into two parts: the first eight lines (octave) and the next six lines (sestet). If the octave part describes the fragments of a sculpture the traveler sees on an ancient ruin, the sestet goes further to record the words on the pedestal and then describe the surrounding emptiness. How are the words on the pedestal in contrast to both the octave and the last three lines (triplet) of the poem? In other words, what does Ozymandias want to achieve, as opposed to what is left behind him?
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| 2. Irony |
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From the last question, we can see the most obvious kind of opposition (between what Ozymandias said and what is left behind him). This opposition has the effect of dramatic irony. What other sets of oppositions or conflicts can we see in the poem? Are they ironic?
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| 3. Structure of narration |
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The poem contains a story (told by Ozymandias) within a story (told by the traveler) within a story (told by) the speaker of the poem). In the core of this multiple story, the Ozymandias we know is only a sculpture and the words on it. What does this, as well as the narrative structure, say about history and art? |
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Different Art Forms and Life
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Consider "The Dance"(by William Carlos Williams), "Musee des Beaux Arts," (by W. H. Auden), "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ozymandias" together.
- How do these poems (as verbal art) )deal with plastic arts?
- "Musee des Beaux Arts," "Ozymandias" and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" relate art to human world in different ways. How are their focuses and attitudes different? And how do YOU relate the literary works we have read to your life?
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