Byron, Shelley, and Keats
Identify the major themes in the poem "Ozymandias." A. the absurdity of arrogance B. the irrelevance of the past C. the immortality of poetry D. the fleeting nature of power and fame E. the strength and finality of nature
A. the absurdity of arrogance D. the fleeting nature of power and fame E. the strength and finality of nature Explanation: "Ozymandias" deals with major themes such as the absurdity of arrogance, the fleeting nature of power and fame, and the strength and finality of nature. It does not illustrate the immortality of poetry or suggest that the past is irrelevant.
How does word choice affect the emotional impact of "She Walks in Beauty"? Pay special attention to connotation rather than denotation. Use evidence from the text to support your response.
Hide Sample Answer In "She Walks in Beauty," Byron describes the simple yet unusual beauty of an unnamed woman. He uses the contrasting imagery of light and dark to paint a picture of beauty that is both earthly and divine at the same time. Byron first describes the woman's physical beauty using light and dark imagery: And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes; By using contrast at the start of the poem, Byron describes a woman of an unusual kind of beauty. In fact, the interplay between shadows and light, and their balance, is the cause of her beauty: One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace These words about dark and light suggest that she is only beautiful when the light is cast on her just right. But by saying that dark and bright meet "in her aspect and her eyes," the balance that they strike seems to be in her very nature—not dependent on external conditions. In the second and third stanzas, he couples parts of her physical being that radiate this special grace with more obvious inherent qualities, such as her thoughts, smiles, mind, and heart: Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. The final lines of the poem describe several idealized qualities that emanate from her face: The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! The poem describes a woman whose beauty is far from skin deep. It resonates with and expresses her mind and heart.
Keats addresses his poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" to the urn itself, using the poetic technique of apostrophe. How does this technique help illustrate the immortality of art? Use examples from the poem to support your answer.
Hide Sample Answer The scene Keats describes on the urn has a special vibrancy because it conjures a living scene with an implied past and present. While the decoration depicts something alive, the poem attributes special beauty to the scene because it will never be altered by changes that come with the passing of time. In the third line of the poem, the urn is called a "sylvan historian," suggesting that it naturally communicates a story more effectively than we who live in the changing world can with "our rhyme": Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: The reference to the urn as a "still unravish'd bride of quietness" is echoed later in the poem when Keats addresses a "fair youth" who can never kiss his love because he can't move forward in time to that event. And yet, the poem rejoices in the beauty he can enjoy forever. She won't fade, or cease to be fair (lose her youthful beauty), and his love will go on forever: Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! The world shown on the urn is also silent because it is fixed in time. The poem contrasts the "heard melodies" of our world with the even sweeter "unheard" ones that a viewer of the urn can imagine coming out of the "soft pipes" that play "to the spirit ditties of no tone" rather than to the "sensual ear" of mortal humans. Finally, the poem says that this "silent form" will remain after the humans of the current generation are long gone. The urn will therefore act for a long time as "a friend to man" reminding him that "Beauty is truth, truth beauty": When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Addressing the urn directly heightens the sense of beauty and vibrancy that the poetic speaker sees and enjoys from the scene painted on it. This use of apostrophe makes the emphatic appreciation of the scene depicted seem alive, truly a place of "happy, happy boughs" and "happy, happy love."
How does the structure of "Ozymandias" affect the overall meaning and emotional impact of the poem?
In "Ozymandias," Percy Shelley explores the theme of the futility of power and might, and contrasts it with the immortality of art. He uses three narrators to tell the events of the poem. The poem is a frame story. The reader first encounters the main narrator. Shelley begins the poem by talking about how the narrator met the traveler: I met a traveler from an antique land, Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone" At this point, the narrative shifts to the second speaker, the traveler. The traveler's main function within the poem is to give us, the readers, the setting. He describes the desolate landscape in which he saw the ruins of a once-glorious empire. Through him, Shelley prepares us for the emotional impact of Ozymandias's final words. It is through him that we get a description of Ozymandias's power and pride: Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Through the traveler's description, we realize that while Ozymandias's power, symbolized by the ruins of his statue, has faded, the art of the unknown sculptor who captures his expression survives: Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The narrative voice shifts once again, and we hear Ozymandias's words: My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! After one has read the traveler's description of the ruins, Ozymandias's words come across as pathetic and ironic, which is Shelley's intention. He uses the word despair in Ozymandias's boasting to his enemies. However the same despair could now be used to describe Ozymandias's degraded state. At the climax of the poem, we recognize the irony of the fact that the once-great ruler Ozymandias is now unknown, and we get the only information we have of him from a stranger. So, by using narrative shifts, Percy Shelley increases the final emotional impact of the poem.
Read the excerpts from Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty." In the first excerpt, select the two word pairs that contain alliteration. In the second excerpt, select all the words that create assonance. She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; One shade the more, one ray the less Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress,
Of *cloudless climes* and *starry skies*; One *shade* the more, one *ray* the less Had half impaired the *nameless grace* Which *waves* in every *raven* tress, The two alliterative word pairs are *cloudless climes and starry skies*, which repeat the cl and s sounds respectively. In the second excerpt, the words *shade, ray, nameless, grace, waves, and raven* all have a long a sound and create the internal rhyme of assonance.
Whom is the speaker addressing in the second and third stanzas? Use evidence from the text to support your response.
Sample Answer: In "Ode on a Grecian Urn," John Keats describes his joy at experiencing the beauty of an ancient Greek vase. He describes his reaction to each of its engravings, which depict scenes from daily life in ancient Greece as well as from mythology. In the second and third stanzas, he addresses the human figures and objects shown on the urn. In the second stanza, he addresses the pipe and its player, and a pair of lovers: Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; In the third stanza, he addresses the youth playing his melody, the lover, and the trees: Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
Why is it significant that the statue, although damaged, sits alone in the desert? What kind of statement does Shelley seem to be making? Use evidence from the text to support your response.
Sample Answer: In the poem "Ozymandias," Percy Shelley paints a picture of the desolation and ruin of a once-powerful empire. Shelley uses a narrative shift to make the point that power and might are not immortal. He doesn't give us fantastical descriptions of what the kingdom was once like. The traveler in the poem gives us the bare facts of what it is now: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, This description makes the final lines of the poem, spoken by the long-dead Ozymandias, more effective because of the irony: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" All that remains are remnants of his "mighty works"—a broken statue, the traveler says: Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare Shelley's image of the abandoned and ruined statue suggests that while empires come and go, only art lasts forever.
What kind of beauty is Byron defining in "She Walks in Beauty"? Is this a kind of beauty you can make sense of? Does it seem more like part of real life or poetry? Discuss your viewpoint on the beauty you think he defines in the poem. Use evidence from the text to support your response.
Sample Answer: In the poem "She Walks in Beauty," Byron describes the beauty of an unnamed woman. He describes this beauty in terms of the contrast and balance of light and dark. In this way, he shows that the woman's beauty is not unearthly, but it is still unusual. One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace In the last stanza of the poem, Byron connects this outward beauty to a strong inner beauty: The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, This kind of beauty does exist in daily life. Good actions and a life well lived can also give a person natural grace, which is a realistic kind of beauty.
Which words in this excerpt from "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats support the claim that the opening lines of the poem convey a sense of wonder and admiration? Thou still *unravish'd* bride of quietness, Thou *foster-child* of silence and *slow time*, *Sylvan historian*, who canst thus *express* A *flowery* tale more sweetly than our *rhyme*
Unravished Slow time Sylyvan historian Flowery Explanation: The word unravish'd suggests something untouched and viewed for the first time. The words slow time and sylvan historian create an image of an object that has survived through the centuries. The word flowery suggests something that is fresh and beautiful.
