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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 8 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which technique is evident in line 6, "Tell that its sculptor well those passions read"?

2. In line 1, what word does the speaker use to describe the land where the traveler has been?

3. Whose hand is being referred to in line 8, "The hand that mocked them"?

4. What is the meter of the poem's first two lines?

5. What does Ozymandias hope to inspire in his audience?

Short Essay Questions

1. Briefly summarize the action of the poem.

2. What claims does the poem make about the statue's sculptor?

3. How does the poem's setting support its main point?

4. How does the epithet that Ozymandias gives himself help the reader understand the intentions behind his quote?

5. Identify the three voices heard in "Ozymandias."

6. What poetic techniques create impact in the line, "Half sunk a shattered visage lies" (line 4)?

7. Explain the irony of the poem's ending.

8. Describe the poem's form.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read one of Shelley's more obviously political poems: either "The Masque of Anarchy" or "England in 1819" (both are available online). Then, write an essay comparing and contrasting his approach to political subject matter in the poem you chose and "Ozymandias." Use textual evidence from both works as support for your ideas; cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you advance and defend an argument about why "Ozymandias" is more revered by critics than Smith's poem "On A Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below." Show how Shelley uses poetic technique to create a superior poem on the same subject as Smith's poem. Support your ideas with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from both poems.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about meter in "Ozymandias." Be sure to discuss both Shelley's use of iambic pentameter and his departures from this meter. Offer insight into the effect of these departures, using correct literary terminology for types of metrical feet as you discuss the form these departures take. Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims.

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