AP Success - AP English Literature Poetry Analysis: Percy Bysshe Shelly
Question 1
In Percy Bysshe Shelly’s “Ozymandias,” the speaker recounts meeting a man who tells of a civilization that fell long ago. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Shelley uses literary elements and techniques to convey the futility of people’s lust for power.
In your response you should do the following:
• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation. • Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning. • Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning. • Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Percy Bysshe Shelly’s “Ozymandias"
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