Pick out expressions which show that the words of the pedestal ‘... look on my works...’ are an empty boast. 

There are four characters in this poem. Name them. 

Choose the option that explains each statement.

‘Tell that its sculptor well those passions read’ 

i) The sculptor skilfully understood the king’s feelings. 

ii) The sculptor read a story about the king. 

iii) The king read a story to the sculptor. 

‘Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things'

i) The king is still alive

ii) The sculpted image shows the king's emotions very well.

iii) The sculptor was very passionate.

' "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" '
The king says that his works are

i) so superior that God cannot equal their excellence and will despair.

ii) only for the mighty God while the rest can despair.

iii) only for the king while God can despair.

This poem is an example of an English sonnet. 

A sonnet is a form of poetry that has 14 lines and usually five pairs of syllables per line. In each syllable pair, the second syllable is stressed. 

Look at the example given. 

Show the stressed syllable in a similar manner for each line of the poem. 

Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or sound in words that are closely placed together.

Underline the repeated sounds in the lines given below. 

a) ‘Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things’ 

b) ‘boundless and bare’ 

Irony is the use of words that mean the opposite. 

a) How are the words on the pedestal ironical for the reader? 

b) What do you think the reader would feel – great fear and respect for the king or amazement at the emptiness around? 

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: 
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone 
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, 
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, 
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, 

1. What does the poet mean by antique land? 

   • i) a place where antique goods are found. 

   • ii) a place where people living are very old. 

   • iii) a very distant land where very less people live or it is a very far off land where ancient civilizations existed. 

   • iv) a place where children live. 

2. ‘Two vast and trunkless legs’ which poetic device is used in the above line? 

   • i) Alliteration

   • ii) Simile

   • iii) Metaphor 

   • iv) Onomatopoeia 

3. Whose statue was it? 

   • i) It was the statue of Ozymandias. 

   • ii) It was the statue of a giant animal. 

   • iii) It was the statue of a lady warrior. 

   • iv) It was the statue of a queen.

What is the tone of the poem?