All sonnets, including “Ozymandias” are fourteen lines long and written in iambic pentameter. ![]() “Ozymandias” is a sonnet, which is a type of poetic structure. Ozymandias is first and foremost a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of political power, and in that sense the poem is Shelley’s most outstanding political sonnet, trading the specific rage of a poem like “England in 1819” for the crushing impersonal metaphor of the statue. Use periods when sentences end, not necessarily at the end of every line. Sonnets require only minimal punctuation. ![]() Each line is in iambic pentameter, which means there are usually ten syllables and five “beats” (stressed syllables) per line. This means that you only need to find two words for each rhyme. The rhyme scheme for the whole poem is abab cdcd efef gg. Why must a sonnet be written in iambic pentameter?Īlthough the majority of the lines in a Shakespearean sonnet should be written in iambic pentameter, the rhythm can get plodding and predictable if you use it exclusively. Shelley wanted to commemorate that event and was spurred on as well by a friendly rivalry with the poet Horace Smith. ![]() First, the poem was inspired by the arrival in England of a portion of a statue of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II. Shelley wrote “Ozymandias” for several reasons.
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