Class 10 - English : Literature Reader
Chapter 10 - Ozymandias
Top Block 1
Question 1. (a) No water nearby, no green plants.no trees or birds, no buildings or human beings
(b) Halt sunken in the sand, the stone edges are the corners. arms and trunk are missing. It is very old and made Of stone.
(c) Powerful, a warrior who defeated all his enemies. He must have been arrogant and conceited.
(d) Subdued, meek, obeyed orders, non-rebellious.
Question 2. Write a letter to your friend about the sight you saw and your impression of it.
Answer :
Dear Riva,
I hope you are enjoying your ho You know that in these vacations I went to an ancient With family. I saw many places but one of them stirred me deeply. The place desert.where you could only see vast stretches Of sand. There lay a broken statue of the king named Ozymandias. He was the ruler of that land thousands of years ago.
The remains of the Statue stood mounted on a stone based pedestal.
There was an inscription engraved on it which -read as “My name is Ozymandias, king Of kinqs : Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair”
I was wondering how the great king must have thought that this statue Of stone Will stand forever and tell the stories of his achievements to the world. He must have thought he would become immortal and be remembered by all. Nov his status was all shattered. crumbled and his bee rolled in the sand.
Time takes its toll and does not spare anyone or anything. It made me realise that everything comes to an end with time. Nothing is immortal. I was just looking at his head half sunken in the sand and wondering where is his glorious kingdom, the lands he won. All this made me feel that we should live peacefully with others. Since all will perish one day, we should not kill or take away possessions and life from others to prove our greatness.
I will meet you when the schools re-open.
Your best friend
Anshi
Question 4: Answer the following questions by ticking the correct options.
(a) The poem is set in _____________________
(i) the wilderness
(ii) an ancient land
(iii) a palace
(iv) a desert
Answer :
iv. a desert
Question (b) The expression on the face of the statue is one of ___________________
(i) admiration
(ii) anger
(iii) despair
(iv) contempt
Answer :
iv. Contempt
Question (c) This poem throws light on the _____________ nature of Ozymandias.
(i) cruel
(ii) arrogant
(iii) boastful
(iv) aggressive
Answer :
iii. Boastful
Question (d) The sculptor was able to understand Ozymandias’ _______________
(i) words
(ii) expression
(iii) feelings
(iv) ambition
Answer :
ii. Expression
Question (e) The tone of the poem is __________________________
(i) mocking
(ii) nostalgic
(iii) gloomy
(iv) gloating
Answer :
iv. Gloating
Question 5. Answer the following questions briefly.
(a) “The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. “Whose hand and heart has the poet referred to in this line?
Answer :
The hand and heart referred to, here, is that of the sculptor.
Question (b) “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:” Why does Ozymandias refer to himself as King of Kings? What quality of the king is revealed through this statement?
Answer :
In order to emphasise on him to be the most powerful of all kings, King Ozymandias calls himself ‘King of Kings’. The king supposedly was very powerful, aggressive, arrogant and boastful.
Mddle block 1
Question (c) “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Who is Ozymandias referring to when he speaks of ye Mighty? Why should they despair?
Answer :
Ozymandias refers to all the other rulers to come after his reign. They should despair, because according to him, they can’t surpass his glory and power.
Question (d) Bring out the irony in the poem.
Answer :
The irony of “Ozymandias” cuts much deeper as the reader realises that the forces of mortality and flexibility, described brilliantly in the concluding lines, will wear down and destroy all our lives. There is a special justice in the way tyrants are subject to time, but all humans face death and decay. The poem primarily depicts an ironic picture of Ozymandias and other rulers like him, but it is also a prominent thought on time-bound humanity: the traveler in the ancient land, the sculptor-artist who fashioned the tomb, and the reader of the poem, no less than Ozymandias, inhabit a world that is “boundless and bare.”
Question (e) ‘Nothing beside remains.’ What does the narrator mean when he says these words?
Answer :
When the narrator says these words, he emphasises on the fact that human life is time bound. The power and popularity of the ruler descended with the descent of the ruler. Nothing is immortal and immutable in this world.
Question (f) What is your impression of Ozymandias as a king?
Answer :
To me, Ozymandias seems to be a very powerful tyrannical ruler, who was extremely boastful of himself and his kingdom.
Question (g) What message is conveyed through this poem?
Answer :
Through this poem a very important message is conveyed which explains the ultimate truth of human lives that nothing is important. Everything in this world is time-bound and not immortal. The immutability of time has been explained through this poem.
Question Q6: Identify and rewrite the lines from the poem spoken by the narrator, the traveller and Ozymandias:
Answer :
The Narrator: ______________________________________________________
The Traveller: ____________________________________________________
Ozymandias: __________________________________________________
The Narrator: The narrator starts the poem with the introduction as to how the traveller had narrated his trip to the ancient land.
The Traveller: Two huge yet without the upper part of the body sculptures stood in the desert. Near them lay a shattered face, which had a frown and a wrinkled expression on his face. The face also held a hostile expression of cold command. The expression could be read very well on these lifeless things because of the sculptor’s artistry. On the pedestal appeared the words of the king himself. It read that his name was Ozymandias, king of kings, who commanded the forthcoming rulers to look up to him, and be saddened by the fact that they can never beat the glory he had achieved.
Ozymandias: I am Ozymandias, king of all kings: look upon my work and be despaired by my might, which you can never surpass.
Question 7: Shelley’s sonnet follows the traditional structure of the fourteen-line Italian sonnet, featuring on opening octave, or set of eight lines, that presents a conflict or dilemma, followed by a sestet, or set of six lines, that offers some resolution or commentary upon the proposition introduced in the octave. Read the poem carefully and complete the following table on the structure of the poem.