Ozymandias Review

Who was Ozymandias?

• An Egyptian king

• A poet

• A traveler

• A mighty warrior

What does "visage" mean?

• ancient

• a person's face

• extremely large

• a great ruler

How does the traveler describe the expression on the statue?

• as compassionate

• as frightened

• as thoughtful

• as arrogant

What is the state of the statue?

• It has been covered in gold.

• It has been left in ruins.

• It is being restored.

• It is being taken away.

What is most likely the author’s reason for telling the story as it was told to him by “a traveller from an antique land”?

• To avoid responsibility for whether the story is true or not.

• To allow him freedom to supply dramatic detail without bringing up questions of how he saw these things, where exactly, et cetera.

• To allow himself questionable distance from the bleak attitude toward all human accomplishment reflected in the poem.

• To avoid legal action by anyone who might feel the poem was based on them.

Answer explanation

The poem uses fantastic details that are not meant to be questioned, and telling the story from hearsay enables this.

What can the reader infer from the description of the scene below?

Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies

• In ancient times, a giant forest grew on the site.

• There is quicksand in the area which has swallowed the creation Ozymandias was so proud of.

• Ozymandias had a massive statue of himself constructed of which only fragments remain.

• The waste of resources practiced under Ozymandias’ rule turned a fruitful area into barren desert.

Answer explanation

The “trunkless legs” and “visage” are fragments of a statue.

What is the best summation of the theme of the poem?

• The kings of the ancient world created great works only with the help of thousands of slaves.

• Nothing that you do will have any lasting value.

• Excessive pride or an inflated sense of self based on our accomplishments is absurd: nothing remains.

• Enjoy your life today because like everyone who has ever lived, you will die.

Answer explanation

The crumbling remains of a once-powerful structure mirror Ozymandias’s mortality and transience.

Which of the following best prove the answer to Question 7?

• “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’”

• “Tell that its sculptor well those passions read / Which yet survive,...”

• “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare”

• “I met a traveller from an antique land”

Answer explanation

The words on the pedestal warn other rulers that they, too, will once be a fading memory.

Which of the following options correctly orders the structure in which the poet makes his point?

• (1) The story is situated as a fable-like tale from a wisened traveler, (2) The reader realizes what this crumbling statue originally symbolized, (3) The poet lends his own voice as a contrast to the vain boast of the proclamations of Ozymandias., (4) The poet renders images of crumbling, fading, and decay

• (1) The story is situated as a fable-like tale from a wisened traveler, (2) The poet renders images of crumbling, fading, and decay, (3) The reader realizes what this crumbling statue originally symbolized, (4) The poet lends his own voice as a contrast to the vain boast of the proclamations of Ozymandias.

• (1) The reader realizes what this crumbling statue originally symbolized, (2) The poet renders images of crumbling, fading, and decay, (3) The story is situated as a fable-like tale from a wisened traveler, (4) The poet lends his own voice as a contrast to the vain boast of the proclamations of Ozymandias.

• (1) The poet renders images of crumbling, fading, and decay, (2) The story is situated as a fable-like tale from a wisened traveler, (3) The poet lends his own voice as a contrast to the vain boast of the proclamations of Ozymandias., (4) The reader realizes what this crumbling statue originally symbolized