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Use Of Power In Ozymandias

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Power can be a healing force, but can also be used to destroy. Both sides of this point are explored in both Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelly and Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Ozymandias is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelly. It was published in 1818 during the period of time where freedom of expression was very popular. Still I Rise was published in 1978 by African-American civil rights activist Maya Angelou. She wrote this to share with the world her attitude towards slavery. The power in Still I Rise belongs to Maya Angelou. She holds the power to stand up to the people who treat her like nothing. The last few lines in the first stanza “you may tread me in the very dirt” immediately set up the attitudes of the rest of the poem. Maya Angelou is referring to herself as nothing more than dirt on the ground. People walk all over dirt without a care in the world. It’s taken for granted and made out to be completely useless. She is trying to say that people completely disregard her. But this line is immediately followed by "but still, like dust, I'll rise" She is saying that even though she has been reduced down to the dirt …show more content…

The negative power is Ramses the second. A great and powerful ruler who uses his power to force people to do as he says. We can tell that he was not a kind ruler in the line "whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command." Shelly paints a picture of a cruel leader who only cares about himself. Ozymandias expects this power to just be handed to him. "I am Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works and despair!" this depicts the king as having a rather large ego. He feels as if he can do as he pleases. The inscription on the statue is ironic as "nothing besides remains." Shelly writes the poem about a cold king who believes he is superior to everyone else. He is arrogant and feels like this much power is just a right. Ozymandias is abusing his power and eventually, this is his

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