Friday, September 13, 2013

What are some figurative devices in the poem "Ozymandias"?

Percy Bysshe Shelley's classic poem, "Ozymandias," is
remarkably lacking in figurative language such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or
personification.


The descriptions of the ruined statue of
Ozymandias use precise, literal language:


"two
vast and trunkless legs of stone";

"half
sunk, a shattered visage [face]";

"frown
/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold
command";

"the
pedestal";

"the decay of that collosal
wreck."

The final image of the poem could be
considered a personification: "The lone and level sands stretch far away."  The sand is
likened to a lonely person that
"stretches."


The straightforward style in which this poem's
images are delivered is part of what makes this ironic little story so
memorable.

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