Analysis Of Ozymandias By Percy Bysshe Shelley

The image was a shattered statue remaining only the face of the Greek king. Where beneath the stone image was written:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

The poem titled "Ozymandias" is a sonnet, written in loose iambic pentameter, where the first stanza has eight lines and six lines for the second stanza. Most sonnets end in a rhyming couplet but this is an exception. Both stanzas are dedicated to the description of the stone image. In stanza one, readers are given a clear picture of how the statue was found, the damage that had befallen the statue, the pride and arrogance portrayed by the statue, etc.

The following are the themes of the poem:-
(1) Futility of wealth and status: With the little that is left to remind the
readers about a kingdom and its  once upon a time powerful king; human wealth and status is truly a futile acquisition.

(2) Leadership and its inevitable trait of pride: The facial description of Ozymandias' stone image in lines 4-5 proves that pride is an inevitable trait of all rulers:
"Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command" (lines 4-5)

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(3) The immortal quality of things surpass the mortality in human: This theme reminds me of "Ode to a Grecian Urn" by John Keats where the beauty of the lady drawn on the Grecian urn lasted very longer than the beauty of any living lady. In this poem titled "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, it is shown that immortality is better that mortality because after the king in question has long lived the earth and vanished, his sculpted image still survived damage and wreck and unspeakable circumstances of life.

The mood is mild and the tone revealing. The voice of the poem is in first person singular point of view, according to the opening line of the poem:
"I met a traveller from an antique land"
The setting is an undisclosed place which might on the road or anywhere. Another setting of note, is the desert which the poet referred to as "antique land" in line 1; the antique land is described to be a
"...colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away." (According to lines 13-14)

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Assonance in line 1 "an antique" Alliteration in line 2 "two vast and trunkless" Imagery in line 4 "Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown"
Irony between lines 10-11 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

"The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed" in line 8 of the poem refers to the attitude of Ozymandias towards those he ruled. Figuratively, with the way the words in line 8 is arranged, it can be considered a synecdoche where "the hand" and "the heart" are used to represent the king. There is also an inversion in the line_ in terms of word order. The normal arrangement is supposed to be "The hand that fed them and the heart that mocked".

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Examine The Characters Of The King In Ulysses By Lord Alfred Tennyson

The poem Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson also brings Homer's Odyssey to mind_ most particularly the movie. The poem speaker in Tennyson's Ulysses disregarded idleness to preach adventure which was tabled in form of dramatic monologue for readers delight.

To create an introduction to the poem Ulysses, I'll briefly say that in 1842, Lord Alfred Tennyson published Ulysses as a way diving into his own imaginative adventure of human aging.

I'll discuss the characters of the king as printed in my past questions and answers and it goes thus:

"The poem Ulysses presents the persona's inclination for adventure, his insatiable quest for knowledge and the desire to conquer in heroic dimensions. In the presentation of the theme of the poem certain aspects of the characters of the king are brought. In line 1-6 the king is presented as an adventurous and restless character whose quest for travels and adventure cannot be contained. He demonstrates pride and arrogance in his assertion that his job is restricted to sitting in one place with an old wife, to administer unfair laws to a set of primitive and idle people. Line 34-44 he is therefore bored and longs for further adventures. In the metaphor in which he compares the life of travelling and drinking from a cup, he maintains that he will pursue and give free reign to his travelling instincts. His journeys have had their fair share of joy and sorrow on him and others to love him.

The king is practical and realistic. He accepts old age and celebrates the virtues that come with it. He is not peevish and complaining but notes "old age hath yet his honour and his toil". In the last section of the poem, he tells us that although they now lack the strength which in times of their youth moved heaven and earth they are still what they are in their old age: equal in temper and of heroic hearts. Even though they have been made weak by time and fate, they are strong in will and determination "to strive, to seek, to find and not yield"

Among other characters of the king, enjoyment of life is not excluded. The king takes delight in the pleasure of the world and he revels in his participation in entertainment activities. He thus laments the state of inactivity and immobility in which there is "a pause" indicating "an end" and "rust unburnished" The king creates the impression that since "every hour" leads to "that eternal silence" it becomes imperative to travel and "follow knowledge like a sinking star/ beyond the utmost bound of human thought"

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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The Theme Of Vanity In The Proud King By William Morris

So many themes run through this narrative masterpiece; among them are the supremacy of God, the act of sin and repentance, the effective power of death, etc.

This article will be discussing the theme of vanity. "The Proud King" by William Morris reminds the reader through his prominent character (Jovinian) of how vain life and wealth are.

The poem opens as follows:
"In a far country that I cannot name,
And in a year long ages past away,
A King there dwelt, in rest and ease and fame,
And richer than the Emperor is today:"
The mammoth wealth and high status triggered the pride in Jovinian to the extent of believing himself a God on earth but within a blink of eye, he was mysteriously dethroned and relegated to a state of wretchedness: "the real King by the roadside lay, Panting, confused, scarce knowing if he dreamed" (line 253-254), "The hot sun solely burned his naked skin" (line 100).

According to line 190-193 of the poem, those who saw Jovinian admitted he resembled their king but refused to reckon with his laments and never gave him the respect he used to get:
"He to the King is nothing in aught
But that his beard he weareth in such guise
As doth my lord: wilt thou that he be brought?
Perchance some treason 'neath his madness lies"

In a nutshell, the theme of vanity is based on the fact that nothing is certain on earth.

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Prove That The Proud King By William Morris Is A Narrative Poem

Narrative poetry is such that tells tale with the use of dramatic elements. Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
The Proud King by William Morris also falls under the category of narrative poetry; and we shall support this claim with just four points below:

(1) Lengthiness:- One of the common characteristics of a narrative poem is the three
digit length of lines it mostly possesses. The Proud King by William Morris has a total of 849 line which is way more longer than Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which is merely 625 lines in total. William Morris' attempt to give a detailed account of Jovinian's err and repentance led to such mammoth number of lines.

(2) Storytelling:- As mentioned before, tell-tale is paramount in the craft of a narrative poetry. In the poem "The Proud King" by William Morris, a certain wealthy and highly respected king who goes by the name Jovinian, suddenly became proud and arrogant by likening himself to God. When the morning arrived, he decided to go hunting and stopped by a river to swim but an angel sharing his resemblance took his kingly robe and horse. Jovinian became a nuisance none could recognize him despite his multiple try to claim his rightful status. When he finally became sober and repented, the angel put him back to his throne.

(3) Poetic devices: It has been noted that most narrative poetry embrace the use of dramatic monologue which is not lacking in the poem "The Proud King" by William Morris. Another poetic device common in narrative poetry is apostrophe; in the poem we see "Ah God!" occurred many times in the words of Jovinian.

(4) Rhyme and rhythm:- "The Proud King" by William Morris was carefully composed to follow a stick rhythm and its end rhyme pattern looks ABABBCC.

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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