View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of landscape has the traveler been traveling through?

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

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

4. What technique is used in line 8, "The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed"?

5. What is the likely purpose of capitalizing "Works" (line 11) and "Wreck" (line 13)?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Briefly summarize the action of the poem.

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

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

5. Describe the poem's form.

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

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

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

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 explicate the poem's rhyme scheme and discuss the effects created by this rhyme scheme. How does rhyme link or emphasize ideas and affect the poem's flow, pace, and tone? Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you explicate the imagery of "Ozymandias." Describe the poems images and then show how they function to support the poem's overall meaning. Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 729 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample