Ozymandias
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Your task:
Annotate this poem using SMILES.
1. Structure
Rhyme scheme, repetition, narration, layout, verse length and content,
positioning of verse, what the poem looks like, punctuation
2. Meaning
What is the poem about? What themes are explored? Are there any
repeated issues? Who is the person speaking? Who is he addressing?
3. Imagery
Descriptions, any recurring images, symbols, connotations
4. Language
Type-Adjectives/nouns/verbs/ adverbs, positive/ negative, Standard
English, accent, dialect, literary devices (similes, metaphors, personification, etc.)
5. Emotion
What emotions does the speaker express? What emotions do you feel?
Relate these to the speaker’s sense of identity
6. Sounds
Alliteration – what letters? assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm. What
effect and where in the poem is it found?
