Play-08: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Play-08: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley Short Question Answers
Theme: A traveler saw a broken statue. It had two huge trunkless legs. Its face was lying in the sand half buried. Still there was an expression of anger on it. The king tried to immortalize himself in the form of a statue. But now the statue is lying broken in the sand. The poet wants to show that nothing is immortal in this world.
1	Who was Ozymandias?
Ans:	Ozymandias was an alternative name for the Egyptian rule Pharaoh Ramesses II. The British Museum announced to have captured the Ozymandias status in 1816. Shelley got inspired and wrote this poem in 1817. But the statue did not reach the British Museum until 1821.
2.	Who was written the poem, ‘Ozymandias’?
Ans:	P.B. Shelley wrote this poem. He is one of the famous English Romantic poets on the 19th century. He was radical in his views. He was impressed by the ideals of the French Revolution.
3.	Whom did the poet of ‘Ozymandias’ meet?
Ans:	The poet met a traveler from an antique land. Here antique land stands for Egypt. Thus the traveler belonged to Egypt and Ozymandias is the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II.
4.	What did the traveler tell the poet?
Ans:	He told the poet that he saw two vast trunkless legs standing in the desert. In fact the whole is the poetic description of what the traveler told the poet.
5.	Where was lying the visage / head of the statue?
Ans:	It was lying half-sunk is the sand near the trunkless legs of the statue. Nothing was visible there except the ‘lone’ and ‘level sand’ of a ‘boundless’ desert.
6.	What does the shattered visage mean?
Ans:	It means a fact that is decayed and eroded. Though it lay broken, damaged and crushed, some of its expressional were still readable.
7.	Why was the visage of the statue shattered?
Ans:	The visage was shattered and eroded under the crushing pressure of time. The statue itself was broken. Its ‘legs’ were standing ‘trunkless’. The whole statue had turned into a ‘colossal wreck’.
8.	What was the condition of the statue?
Ans:	It was a trunkless. It had decayed and broken under the crushing pressure of time. Its head was lying half-buried in the sand. It lay there shattered and eroded.
9.	What expression were visible on the face of the statue?
Ans:	Its face was wearing a frown. Its lips were wrinkled. It gave a sneer of cold command. These expressions showed the fury of the king and skillful art of its sculptor.
10.	What thing of the statue showed the sculptor’s skill?
Ans:	The expressions on the face of statue showed the sculptor’s skill. He was so skilled in his art that he depicted the emotions and feelings of the king on his face.
11.	The word ‘survive’ indicates the survival of the three things; what are these?
Ans:	It indicates ‘the survival of certain passions on the face of status’; the survival of the heart that fed them and the most important the survival of the sculptor’s art.
12.	Whose heart fed the passions on the face of the statue?
Ans:	It may be the heart of the king where these passions arose sometime. It may be the heart of the sculptor who gave these passions a physical shape.
13.	In what sense has the word ‘mock’ been used in the poem?
Ans:	Here the word ‘mock does not mean ‘to ridicule’. It has been used to Aristotelian sense of ‘imitation’ which means to make a perfect copy of something. The sculptor imitates the emotions of the king on the face of statue.
14.	What was written on the pedestal of the statue?
Ans:	It was written on the pedestal of the statue: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings / Look on my works, Ye Mighty and despair.”
15.	Why should the might get disappointed to look at the works of Ozymandias?
Ans:	When the mighty look at the works of Ozymandias, they want to do such great deeds. As they cannot do so, they get disappointed.
16.	What is irony of the words: “Look on my works, Ye Mighty and despair”?
Ans:	None of the works the king boasts of its visible. The king got the statue built as a monument. The statue itself was one of his achievements once. But now it stood broken. What remains there of king’s achievement is only the ‘lone’ and ‘level’ sand.
17.	‘Nothing beside remains’; Explain
Ans:	The phrase indicates that the world is transient. The statue is broken. The ‘legs’ are ‘trunkless’. The head lies ‘shattered’. None of the king’s achievements is visible. What remains behind is a ‘colossal wreck’.
18.	What was visible around the colossal wreck?
Ans:	Nothing was visible there around the colossal wreck except the ‘lone’ and ‘level sand’ in a ‘boundless’ and ‘bare’ desert.
19.	What is the theme / control idea of the poem, ‘Ozymandias’?
Ans:	The poem depicts that the world is transient. Nothing is permanent here. The king’s power, pride, ambitions and achievements have vanished. What remans behind is only a ‘colossal wreck’.
20.	Why does the traveler praise the sculptor?
Ans:	The sculptor has depicted the passions of the king on his statue’s face masterfully. The king’s wrinkled lips and the sneer on his face show the mastery of the sculptor. Thus the traveler praises him.
21.	What did the features of the statue reflect?
Ans:	The features of the statue reflect the mastery of the sculptor. The sculptor read the passions on the king’s face and gave them a physical shape on the statue.
22.	Give a short sketch of Ozymandias?
Ans:	Ozymandias was a powerful king. He wore a proud frown on his face. His lips were wrinkled. He used to look angry. He seemed to be a cruel and merciless king.
23.	Discuss the theme of art in Ozymandias?
Ans:	Art is one of the poem’s themes. The skillful sculptor engraved the passions of the king on the face of statue. Even though the statue is ‘lifeless’, it paradoxically gives life to the ‘passions’ that still ‘survive.’ Shelly himself got impressed by artful story of the statue and wrote ‘Ozymandias.’
24.	Analyze the element of destruction in Ozymandias?
Ans:	The statue itself is eroded. Its ‘legs’ are ‘trunkles.’ Its head lies shattered. It has turned into a colossal wreck. None of the king’s works is visible. Nothing remains behind except the ‘lone’ and ‘level sand’ in a ‘boundless’ and ‘bare’ desert.
25.	How did the poet come to know the story of Ozymandias?
Ans:	The poet met a traveler. He came from an ancient land. He told the poet that he had seen a statue. Then the traveler told the poet the whole detail of the statue. In this way, the poet came to know the story of Ozymandias.
26.	Of what shape and size was the statue of Ozymandias?
Ans:	The statue of Ozymandias has turned into a colossal wreck. The word ‘colossal’ indicates the extremely big size of the statue. And word ‘wreck’ shows it broken condition. Its head is shattered. Its legs are trunkless.

 The central concept of "Ozymandias" is the ultimate futility of earthly power and the impermanence of even the most formidable human achievements. The poem starkly contrasts the once-arrogant pronouncements of the powerful king with the desolate reality of his shattered statue and forgotten kingdom. It serves as a poignant reminder that time inevitably erodes all material grandeur, and that the boasts of even the mightiest rulers will eventually be reduced to meaningless inscriptions in the sand.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, Romantic poetry, power, transience, decay, irony, empire, ambition, legacy, ruin, sonnet.