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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 is the antecedent of the word "them" in line 8, "The hand that mocked them"?

2. What is the meter of the poem's first two lines?

3. What does Ozymandias hope to inspire in his audience?

4. What part of the statue's face does the traveler describe?

5. What is the likely purpose of capitalizing "Works" (line 11) and "Wreck" (line 13)?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Describe the poem's form.

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

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

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

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

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 meter in "Ozymandias." Be sure to discuss both Shelley's use of iambic pentameter and his departures from this meter. Offer insight into the effect of these departures, using correct literary terminology for types of metrical feet as you discuss the form these departures take. Use both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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