Last Updated on February 5, 2023 by Admin
Here we have given important question answers from the poem Ozymandias By P. B. Shelley.
Ozymandias By P. B. Shelley
Textbook Question Answers
Q5-(a): “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.” Whose hand and heart has the poet referred to in this line?
Ans: The ‘hand’ refers to the sculptor’s hand and the ‘heart’ refers to the King’s heart.
Q5-(b): “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:” Why does Ozymandias refer to himself as King of Kings? What quality of the king is revealed through this statement.
Ans: In order to emphasise on him to be the most powerful of all kings, King Ozymandias calls himself ‘King of Kings’. The king supposedly was very powerful, aggressive, arrogant and boastful.
Q5-(c): “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Who is Ozymandias referring to when he speaks of ye Mighty? Why should they despair?
Ans: Ozymandias refers to all the other rulers to come after his reign. They should despair, because according to him, they can’t surass his glory and power.
Q5-(d): Bring out the irony in the poem.
Ans: The irony of “Ozymandias” cuts much deeper as the reader realises that the forces of mortality and flexibility, described brilliantly in the concluding lines, will wear down and destroy all our lives. There is a special justice in the way tyrants are subject to time, but all humans face death and decay. The poem primarily depicts an ironic picture of Ozymandias and other rulers like him, but it is also a prominent thought on time-bound humanity: the traveler in the ancient land, the sculptor-artist who fashioned the tomb, and the reader of the poem, no less than Ozymandias, inhabit a world that is “boundless and bare.”
Q5-(e): ‘Nothing beside remains.’ What does the narrator mean when he says these words?
Ans: When the narrator says these words, he emphasises on the fact that human life is time bound. The power and popularity of the ruler descended with the descent of the ruler. Nothing is immortal and immutable in this world.
Q5-(f): What is your impression of Ozymandias as a king?
Ans: To me, Ozymandias seems to be a very powerful tyrannical ruler, who was extremely boastful of himself and his kingdom.
Q5-(g): What message is conveyed through this poem?
Ans: Through this poem a very important message is che ultimate truth of human lives that nothing is important. Everything in this world is time-bound and not immortal. The immutability of time has been explained through this poem.
Q6: Identify and rewrite the lines from the poem spoken by the narrator, the traveler and Ozymandias:
The Narrator:_________________________________
The Traveller: ________________________________
Ozymandias: _________________________________
Ans:
The Narrator: The narrator starts the poem with the introduction as to how the traveller had narrated his trip to the ancient land.
The Traveler: Two huge yet without the upper part of the body sculptures stood in the desert. Near them lay a shattered face, which had a frown and a wrinkled expression on his face. The face also held a hostile expression of cold command. The expression could be read very well on these lifeless things because of the sculptor’s artistry. On the pedestal appeared the words of the king himself. It read that his name was Ozymandias, king of kings, who commanded the forthcoming rulers to look up to him, and be saddened by the fact that they can never beat the glory he had achieved.
Ozymandias: I am Ozymandias, king of all kings: look upon my work and be despaired by my might, which you can never surpass.
Q9: Imagine that Ozymandias comes back to life and as he sees the condition of his statue, realisation dawns on him and he pens his thoughts in a diary. As Ozymandias, make this diary entry in about 150 words. You could begin like this: I thought I was the mightiest of all but…
Ans:
Dear Diary,
I thought I was the mightiest of all but I was so mistaken. Now I realize how my power and strength are in vain, and are of no importance in the face of time. I am grief-stricken by the fact that my command is of no good. The power of nature and reality is far stronger than what I thought. It has finally dawned on me that everything on this earth is bound to change, irrespective of any personal traits or choices. I have finally come to terms with the fact that I might have been a great ruler, but it was wrong to have been boastful about it. So, I think, one should be modest and sober about one’s own self.
Q10: ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments’ are on Time. Compare the two sonnets in terms of the way in which Time is treated by the poets. Write your answer in about 150 words.
Ans: All of these poets talk about the destructive power of time. There are two completely different ways that you can look at the cruel power of time. One is where time can mature and enrich people or wine, generally a good view of time. The other is where time destroys everything in its path, like the fall of an empire. Poems under consideration focus on the destructive power of time. It is believed that the passage of time is a destructive force and that the poems using that view are better as they are more powerful and display strong images about time.
I hope that you would have enjoyed the poem Ozymandias By P. B. Shelley. If you have any query regarding this chapter, please feel free to get in touch with me through comment box or social media and I assure you to resolve all your queries related to the topic as soon as possible.