Teaching materials for this poem include questions, prompts, and activities that can be used after students read the poem independently or as a group, and as formative or summative assessment tools. The materials can also be utilized in poetry lesson planning and unit design, for class discussion, Entrance and Exit “tickets,” small group seminars, and writing activity ideas. 

Use the writing options in lessons to create opportunities for finding evidence and support in the text, employing critical thinking skills, and practicing test-taking skills. Fulfill requirements for IEP/GIEP learners, early finishers, independent study, varied learning styles, and more.

1. Who gives the description of the statue in the desert?

A) the speaker

B) a traveler

C) the poet

D) the sculptor

2. Who is credited with rendering the statue’s lifelike features?

A) Ozymandias

B) the speaker

C) a traveler

D) the sculptor

3. Where are Ozymadias’s words found?

A) on the statue’s legs

B) on the statue’s face

C) on the statue’s trunk

D) on the statue’s base

4. What can be found in the area surrounding the statue?

A) remains of a city

B) ancient pyramids

C) nothing but sand

D) additional monuments to the pharaoh

5. What expression does the statue’s face bear?

A) a warm smile

B) a cold sneer

C) a wince of pain

D) an angry grimace

1. B. Lines 1-2 reveal that the speaker is hearing the account of the statue secondhand, from a traveler.

2. D. Line 6 credits the lifelike expression of the monument to the sculptor’s skill.

3. D. Line 9 indicates that the traveler looks to the pedestal of the statue, where he finds Ozymandias’s words.

4. C. Lines 12-14 explain that nothing besides the remains of the statue is to be found, only the “lone and level sands” (Line 14).

5. B. Line 5 describes the statue’s “sneer of cold command.”

1. Although Ozymandias’s words on the statue issue a challenge to the “Mighty” to “Look on my Works” and “despair” (Line 11), none of his works or power remains. This type of contradiction in literature is known as:

A) analogy

B) irony

C) hyperbole

D) paradox

2. Which of these is an example of consonance?

A) “antique land” (Line 1)

B) “[…] on the sand, / Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown” (Lines 3-4)

C) “And on the pedestal, these words appear:” (Line 9)

D) “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! / Nothing beside remains” (Lines 11-12)

3. Shelley’s poem is composed of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter. What is this form of poetry called?

A) a sonnet

B) a soliloquy

C) a ballad

D) an elegy

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the poem.

4. What literary device is exemplified by phrases such as, “cold command” (Line 5) and “boundless and bare”? (Line 13)

1. B. Ozymandias’s great pride made him think his power would last forever, as evidenced in the statue’s engraving. However, with the passing of time, all that remains of his legacy is a crumbling statue in the middle of a barren desert. The reality of the situation contradicts Ozymandias’s words, an example of the literary device known as irony.

2. B. Consonance is the repetition of the same consonant sound, exemplified by the “s” in these lines.

3. A. Although Shelley does deviate from the typical rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet, he does conform to the 14-line structure and iambic pentameter that typifies a sonnet.

4. These two quotes are examples of alliteration (the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words).

1. Shelley leaves the end of the poem somewhat open, allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions based on the traveler’s account of the statue. What do you take away as the overall “moral” of the poem? Support your response with evidence from the poem.

2. The two ancient “characters” in the poem are Ozymandias and the sculptor who made the statue. What does the reader learn about each one based on the traveler’s account? Between the two ancient people, which one seems to have had the most power? What makes you think so?

3. Shelley distances himself from the story using a technique called a framing device (a story within a story). The poem’s speaker hears of the statue in the desert secondhand, from a traveler who saw the monument. Why do you think Shelley made this choice, rather than simply allowing the speaker to give a firsthand account of the scene? How does it contribute to your understanding of the poem’s theme that all power is temporary?

1. Shelly’s poem emphasizes two primary conflicts: that between Ozymandias’s power and time, and the conflict between Ozymandias and the sculptor. Create two T-Charts, one for each conflict (see examples below). Using the poem, make bulleted lists of the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of each conflict. After completing your lists, decide who or what came out victorious in each conflict. Which side was stronger? Ozymandias’s power, or the passing of time? The artist, or the pharaoh?

2. Consider the symbolic nature of the statue and the desert. What does the statue symbolize? What does the desert symbolize? Use the text to support your answers. By using both the statue and desert as symbols, what point is Shelley making about art and nature? Create an essay with an introduction, conclusion, and two body paragraphs. In each body paragraph, discuss one of the symbols and its connection to the poem’s theme concerning art and nature. Cite direct quotes from the poem; be sure to analyze the quote to show how it supports your assertions about symbolism and its connection to the poem’s overall message.

3. Although “Ozymandias” is about an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Shelley may have been thinking of the English monarchy or the downfall of imperial French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon fell at Waterloo in 1815, and “Ozymandias” was first published in 1818). Shelley opposed tyrannical rule in his political views as well as in some of his other literary works. Read Shelley’s poem “England in 1819.” Compare Shelley’s criticism of rulers in this poem with his criticism of the pharaoh in “Ozymandias.” Write an essay focusing on three points of comparison or contrast between the descriptions of the respective leaders. Draw a well-supported conclusion about Shelley’s view of power, leadership, and/or government based on your side-by-side analysis of the poems.