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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. How many voices are heard in "Ozymandias"?

2. Which lines contain caesuras?

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

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

5. What technique is employed in the poem's final two lines, "Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare/ The lone and level sands stretch far away”?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the poem's form.

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

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

5. Briefly summarize the action of the poem.

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Write an essay in which you explicate Shelley's use of the sound devices alliteration, assonance, and consonance in "Ozymandias." How do these techniques link or emphasize ideas and impact the poem's flow, pace, and mood? Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you consider the three voices in "Ozymandias" as "stand-ins." Who might the speaker stand in for? Who might the traveler represent? What about Ozymandias himself? As you consider your answers to these questions, think about why each voice is necessary to the poem's overall meaning. Support your ideas with evidence from the poem; if you use outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

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