Poetry paper FOR REY WRITER ONLY

ENG 3120

8 November 2017

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Sonnet, Ozymandias

A sonnet is a poetic form which originated in Italy. There are two kinds: the Petrarchan (Italian) and the Shakespearean (English). Both kinds still consist of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameters – unstressed, then stressed syllables. The Italian form began with Francesco Petrarca. The Shakespearean form began with Thomas Wyatt and Earl of Surrey.

The sestet and octave have special functions in the Petrarchan sonnet. The sonnet is separated into an eight-line stanza and a six-line stanza. The first stanza (with eight lines) is called an octave and follows the rhyme pattern: a b b a a b b a. The second stanza (consisting of six lines) is called a sestet and follows one of these rhyme patterns: c d c d c d, c d e c d e, c d e c e d, c d c e d c, c d d c d c. This shape makes the sonnet a self-sufficient form, open to shades of mood and tone. The final two lines cannot end in a couplet because the couplet was never used in Italy or by Petrarch.

The Shakespearean Sonnet, or English Sonnet, is very different from the Petrarchan Sonnet. While the Shakespearean Sonnet consists of fourteen lines, just like the Petrarchan Sonnet, the lines are divided into different stanzas. This sonnet is composed using three quatrains (three stanzas consisting of four lines each) and a concluding couplet (a two-line stanza). The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is alternating, throughout the quatrains, and ends in a rhyming couplet. Therefore, the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean Sonnet is: a b a b, c d c d, e f e f, g g.

“Ozymandias” is a romantic sonnet written by Percy Bysse Shelly. Shelley's sonnet is a mixture of forms. It is Petrarchan in that the poem is structured as a group of eight lines (octave) and a group of six lines (the sestet). The rhyme scheme is initially Shakespearean, as the first four lines rhyme abab. The title gives a sense that the speaker is talking about Egypt. He describes a meeting with someone who has traveled to a place where ancient civilizations once existed. Along with that, he is also describing the ruins of the empire. It gives a sense of passage of time. The traveler tells the speaker a story about a broken, old statue that looks like a powerful ruler. Ironically, there is so evidence of his power, just a lot of sand. Everything goes back to dust.