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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 part of the statue's face does the traveler describe?

2. Which is the best description of the statue's expression?

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

4. To whom does Ozymandias address his remarks?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Identify the three voices heard in "Ozymandias."

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

5. Describe the poem's form.

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

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

8. Briefly summarize the action of the poem.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about Shelley's use of the sonnet form in "Ozymandias." Be sure to discuss which form he uses as well as his departures from the traditions of that form. Show how his use of the sonnet form supports the poem's overall meaning. Offer evidence from the poem to support your observations about the poem's structure.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Write an essay in which you explicate the imagery of "Ozymandias." Describe the poems images and then show how they function to support the poem's overall meaning. Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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