Imagery

In “Ozymandias” most of the imagery is created in order to depict the sculpture of Ramesses II and its surroundings. In order to create visual images, the poet uses epithets like: “shatter'd visage” (l. 4), “wrinkled lip” (l. 5), “lifeless things” (l. 7), “lone and level sands” (l. 14).

Hyperboles

A hyperbole is an exaggeration or extravagant statement. Here, in order to show Ozymandias’s demands for glory, the author uses the hyperbole “king of kings” (l. 10). You should note that the author has based his description of the inscription on the pharaoh’s sculpture on the real inscription found with the historical artefact.

Oxymoron

The poet also creates an oxymoronic image when describing the actual state of the statue: “Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare” (l. 13)

Though the statue is immense, it is now a wreck and has lost its initial ...