All human beings, and all human beauty, must perish. But can’t great works -of art, of life- survive beyond the individual? We leave, but isn’t what we leave behind proff that the passage matters? Like the poets of another restless age, the Renaissance, the Romantic poets posed these questions. Shelley answers it with his poem Ozymandias.

Suppose you’re a creator. Among architecture, sculpture, music, and literature, which do you think offers the most promise of an enduring monument? Explain your answer.

Irony is the discrepancy between expectations and reality. Explain the fundamental irony in the sonnet.

Discuss what you think is the speaker’s message about pride -and whether it also applies to artists.

Could this poem apply to any contemporary figures who wield political power? Explain.

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