Personal response:
The piece reminds me of a old and mysterious tale of mystery and old knowledge. Clearly Ozymandias is not a person any more, but a stone obelisk and he is about to go into his story about how the king of kings became no more than a stone. The way the poem says “..the words appear…” gives it a much more magical feel to it. This stone plinth is more than a carving, it is alive!
Mood:
The poems mood is that of mystery and it also displays some form of ancient myth or legend that derives from far away in the hot desert. Like one of the myths and mysteries surrounding Egypt and its past.
Questions:
And who is this king of kings this, ‘Ozymandias’? Clearly a king, but from where and how? Was he a noble knight of england or a warlike savage who ruled over his people? There is not given or set time in the piece so he could be an even older ruler. Maybe a ancient Pharaoh of Egypt, a child of god who was sent down to guide his people and rule over them benevolently and to be immortalised in stone only to be consumed by the sands of time.
Possible connections:
I do know that long ago a thousand years before christ there was a ruler over egypt who was known as the king of kings. He was Ramses the Second and is the person whose face you see on many of Egypts monuments. One of his largest monuments was also discovered in 1820 when this poem was apparently written. Ramses the Second could very well be Ozymandias.
Sonnet format:
The sonnet seems to be indirectly focusing on the past and major events that happened before and is written in first person but it switches character early on. Every second line for the first six lines rhymes at the start of each verse and the last line and the line two lines before that also rhymes. It follows the format: A – B – A – C – A – D – E – D. F – G – F – H – F – H. It also is written in Iambic Pentameter with the sentence apparently ending midway through each line of the poem.
Volta:
There is a volta close to the end of the poem which switches the mood from the mysterious and commanding king to this newfound emptiness of his once great empire reduced to dust or just disappeared just like himself.
Viewpoint:
It is written in first person but it starts in the perspective of poet but it then transitions to the description of the traveler from this “…antique land…”.