'Shelley creates a shocked tone in the narrator as he discovers the antique statue with "trunkless legs of stone." The adjective "trunkless" implies the stone legs had nothing connected to them. This emphasises that the statue was broken and abandoned, which is ironic because the whole intention of Ozymandias - the person the statue represented - was for him to be portrayed as a ruler who was always feared, but it seems as if his memory has been completely forgotten. There is nothing left of his legacy, it is "boundless and bare." like the landscape where it's now "half-buried". Shelly is suggesting that those in power, had better use it wisely and for good, especially if they want to be remembered.'

Max, Year 10 (Grade 3 to 7)