Poetry analysis:
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley as read by Bryan Cranston
Shelley drowned at age 29. Dude was fascinating. His poems didn't really do well when it was published. He had a life mapped out. Didn't work out as planned.
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley as read by Bryan Cranston
Shelley drowned at age 29. Dude was fascinating. His poems didn't really do well when it was published. He had a life mapped out. Didn't work out as planned.
Most schools can't teach poetry because most teachers don't understand it well enough. You need a friend who knows it & generously opens the door for you to walk through. I hope I can spark your interest in it. The world is better because of poetry. You may not believe it...yet.
Shelley's a romantic poet. Meaning simple language with a love for nature. Ozymandias is an alias for Ramesses II the Pharaoh.
It's a short poem and packed with dense ideas.
Theme: Might and power of those who commission artists don't last. The art, however, does last.
It's a short poem and packed with dense ideas.
Theme: Might and power of those who commission artists don't last. The art, however, does last.
Form: Sonnet which is a form of love poetry. These are tightly controlled. It requires a hard turn at the end. Sonnets are almost always about love. This one is a mix of Shakespearean and Petrarchan. Fourteen-line poem metered in iambic pentameter. Rhyme scheme: ABABACDCEDEFEF
Shelley wanted to mock the powerful but needed distance. Hence, "I met a traveler." The traveler is the one doing the talking. This is typical when you see journalists who don't have guts to ask and say things like "some people say that your take on x is controversial."
Shelley wrote this while mocking the British Monarchy. The choice of words is mostly negative to attack those who seek immortality through statues of themselves. Sunk, shattered, frown, wrinkled, sneer, cold command, etc.
Something most people were never taught properly but poetry is meant to be read out loud. It's a psychoacoustic art form meant to be synesthetically experienced. Look at the hard "ca" sounds of cold command. That's a confrontational aggressive sound. It can't be said softly.
Fuck, and a bunch of other swear words have that audio quality to them. Notice the use of "MOCK" with 2 meanings They naturally bring out anger because they are meant to amplify that emotion. That's why it's critically important to speak carefully and use vivid language when.
King of Kings is a biblical reference, obviously. But what he's saying is that the works of the king no matter how mighty they may be, no matter how much they are meant to have you experience despair pale in comparison to the boundless and bare level sands that contain them.
Irony: The king wants to last in his legacy, but they hire artists to capture them. The art and artist's work outlasts the kings who hire them. Mocked is a word with two meanings. You can mock up a prototype or mock someone without them knowing it. In this case George the third.
Poetry is meant to be enjoyed by the people because it can be interpreted in many ways. When you read a poem, the poem reads you. Wittgenstein's ruler. This concludes our exploration of poetry. I hope you enjoyed it.
