My task is to find a genre reference work to assist my studies of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Through studying the genre of the Ozymandias poem it will hopefully enhance my ability to interpret and analyze Shelley's poem. Here are the various sources I found:
British Library Learning English Timeline
https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126940.html
The British Library Learning English Timeline taught that Ozymandias is a sonnet written in iambic pentameter. This website did not provide a lot of information over various genres, in specific the genre that Shelley uses however I was able to connect a small amount of historical context to the piece knowing it was a sonnet. Most sonnets are poems about love or associated with love and appearances and it was interesting for me to think of Shelley's piece with the mindset that Ozymandias was so infatuated with himself that it's a love poem to himself purely focused on his (weathered) appearance and fame.
Poets.org
https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet
While Poets.org would not be useful in every literary situation it was extremely helpful in my analysis of Shelley's Ozymandias. Because of my research in British Library I was able to then research more on the specific genre of poetry and the subgroup sonnets. Theoretically I even went into a sub-sub group about English sonnets. Seeing how English sonnets are also referred to as Shakespearean sonnets it made me curious to research the age of Shelley and the time period that Ozymandias was written in. Poets.org was extremely helpful in teaching me more about the specifics of sonnets and the various types, structures and themes that accompany them. The source also provided examples of different sonnets to show structure and form.
Through these various sources that I examined I was able to learn more about the basis of Ozymandias and the potential backgrounds for why Shelley wrote it as the genre of English, or Shakespearean Sonnet. It makes me want to further explore why a few parts of the poem are not written in the same meter as the rest of the poem and to further explore what inspired Shelley to write Ozymandius as a sonnet.
What you fond from the British Library English Timeline was really cool! Its awesome how you described it as a love poem to himself
ReplyDeleteThe concept of writing ironic sonnets that patronize the originals was not a new concept. Shakespeare himself did it multiple times. It does serve as another interesting addition to the lists of odd genre choices that Shelley chose to work with, such as a large quotation and form for a sonnet.
ReplyDeleteI think that if this is a love poem like you said, it would have to be a satirical love poem. Kind of like Shakespeare’s love poem called “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” I do not believe a love poem would include phrases like frown, wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command.
ReplyDeleteRomantics often spent most of their time idealizing the ruin- it's really interesting to think of Shelly's poem as a live poem in that sense as well, kind of his ode to ruinsp
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