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 title does Ozymandias give himself in the statue's inscription?

2. 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”?

3. In line 4, "Half sunk a shattered visage lies," what does the word "visage" refer to?

4. To whom does Ozymandias address his remarks?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Briefly summarize the action of the poem.

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. Describe the poem's form.

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 775 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample