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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. What does Ozymandias's quote imply should be standing around the statue?

2. In lines 6 and 7, "Tell that its sculptor well those passions read/ Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things," what it is that is "stamped," on the "lifeless things"?

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

4. Whose "passions" are referred to in line 6, "Tell that its sculptor well those passions read"?

5. What is the rhyme scheme of "Ozymandias"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Describe the poem's form.

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

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

6. Briefly summarize the action of the poem.

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

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

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 3

Write an essay that analyzes "Ozymandias" as an artifact of English Romanticism. Explain the key characteristics of the style and subject matter of Romanticism, place Shelley within this tradition, and then show how "Ozymandias" reflects this tradition. Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims, and cite all sources in MLA format.

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