Lesson video

Hi there.

Thank you so much for joining me today in your lesson on analysing the poem, "Ozymandias".

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

In today's lesson, we are going to explore how Shelley uses language and structure to convey his key messages about power.

Here are our key words for today.

They are sonnet.

A sonnet is a permit of 14 lines, usually focusing on love.

Alliteration, alliteration is when two or more words near each other start with the same sound.

Ironic, ironic means happening in a way contrary to what is expected and Petrarchan, Petrarchan is a word that describes a Sonnet used by the Italian poets Petrarch in the 1300s Pause the video and make a note of those key words now.

Great, let's take a look at our learning cycles today.

In our first learning cycle, we'll explore language in Ozymandias and how Shelley's use of language helps convey his message.

We'll then move on to looking at the form and structure in Ozymandias and how the form and structure work together with the language to convey Shelley's message.

Let's start off with language and Ozymandias.

Here is the poem on this slide for you.

We're going to read it again.

"I met a traveller from an antique land who said, two vast and trunk less legs of stone stand in the desert.

Near them on the sand, half sunk, a shattered visage lies whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command tell that its sculptor well those passions read, which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things, the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed and on the pedestal these words appear.

My name is Ozymandias king of kings.

Look on my works ye mighty and despair.

Nothing beside remains, round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away." I've highlighted the adjectives trunkless, sunk and shattered.

What did these adjectives symbolise about the ruler that the statute depicts? Pause video and discuss that question.

You may have said that those adjectives show that the ruler lost his power since the statue is in ruin, they've been used to symbolise the ephemeral nature of political and human power and achievements.

Let's zoom into what's written on the pedestal.

What's written on the pedestal is "My name is Ozymandias, King of kings.

Look, all my works ye mighty and despair." Now this is what Ozymandias ask the sculptor to write.

Why is this inscription ironic? Ironic means that something is different to what we'd expect.

Pause the video and discuss.

The inscription on the pedestal reflects Ozymandias' belief that his power would be eternal and his legacy would intimidate people of the future.

It is ironic because his statute is a pitiful wreck and none of his power or legacy remains.

So remember how he said irony is when things happen contrary to what we expect.

Now, Ozymandias did not expect for his legacy to be shattered in this way, and of course, the sculptor and the citizens around Ozymandias would not have expected this either.

It's very ironic that Ozymandias expected to be remembered as a very powerful leader, but see, in fact, he is remembered as weak and powerless because of the way that his statute is a pitiful wreck.

I now want you to discuss which lines from the poem speak of nature, pause the video and discuss.

Well done if you said, nature is referenced on the last few lines of the poem.

It's referenced through the mention of the desert sand that surrounds the statue.

Now, how has Shelley presented nature? I want you to zoom into the alliteration.

What does it suggest about the power of nature? Pause the video and discuss.

The alliteration in boundless and bare.

The lone and level sand stretch far away emphasises the impressiveness of nature as nature commands attention, not the statute.

It reflects the everlasting power of nature and how it supersedes that of mankind.

Now let's check your understanding of what we've just discussed through alliteration.

What does Shelley emphasise the power of? Memory, artwork or nature.

Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said nature.

Remember, nature is described as boundless and bare and lone and level, and this describes the sands which are of course a part of nature.

This alliteration brings our direct attention to nature and it inspires our all, nature commands our attention, not the statue of Ozymandias.

Where is the irony in the poem? Pause the video and answer this question.

There is irony in the poem because the pedestal reads, "Look on my works ye mighty and despair." Now that is ironic because Ozymandias expected people of the future to view his work and be intimidated, but of course, people of the future are viewing his work and are seeing nothing but a pitiful ruin.

This is ironic because the reality is the exact opposite of what Ozymandias expected.

Now you are going to have a discussion about how Shelley uses language to present ideas about power.

You can use the table to help you organise your thoughts, so you have examples of evidence to use.

You have methods that you can talk about.

You have phrases to help you make inferences, and you have phrases to help you justify your inferences.

Now, pause video and discuss.

How does Shelley use language to present his ideas about power in the poem "Ozymandias", pause the video and off you go.

Let's look as an example response for one of our Oak pupils, has Jun included everything from the checklist.

Jun said in Ozymandias, Shelley uses a semantic field of decay to show the ephemeral nature of mankind's power.

This could indicate Shelley's rejection of powerful and oppressive institutions and rulers.

Let's compare Jun's response with the success criteria.

June has indeed identified a technique.

He's identified the semantic field of decay.

However, Jun doesn't include a quote to support the use of this technique.

June indeed does make an inference.

He says that Shelley could be showing the ephemeral nature of mankind's power.

However, June does not manage to justify his ideas and in fact, it's June's lack of evidence that prevents him from being able to justify his ideas.

Here's how Jun rephrased his response to include he met all of his success criteria.

His response now reads, "In Ozymandias.

Shelley uses a sematic field of of decay, shattered sunk, trunkless, to show the ephemeral nature of mankind's power.

This could indicate Shelley's rejection of powerful and oppressive institutions and rulers.

Since the statute, once a figure of tyranny and authority depicted by its sneer of cold command is nothing but a colossal wreck." Jun has now included a quote and he's justified his ideas in a brilliant, thoughtful way.

It's your turn now to talk to your partner once more, rephrasing and adding missed details to your work where necessary.

Pause the video and discuss again.

Brilliant, let's move on to our second learning cycle where we'll explore how form and structure inform Shelley's message in "Ozymandias." "Ozymandias" takes the form of a sonnet.

Discuss with your partner, what do you remember about sonnets? Pause the video and discuss.

You may have said that sonnets are poems that usually focus on love and admiration.

They are 14 lines, they are written in iambic pentameter.

They follow a rigid rhyme scheme.

They can be either Petrarchan or Shakespearean, and they were also a common form for romantic poets who often use them to emphasise nature's beauty.

Now, if sonnets are often about love, why do you think Shelley used the sonnet form for "Ozymandias"? Pause video and discuss.

One interpretation of Shelley's use of the sonnet form is to mock Ozymandias' arrogance and egotistical love for himself.

Of course, this poem is not a love poem addressed to anyone, but it could reflect Ozymandias love for him himself.

We can also consider a more nuanced interpretation of the use of sonnet, and to do that we need to look at how "Ozymandias" adheres to and it subverts Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet conventions.

Here is the poem on the slide there for you.

Let's take a note of the rhyme scheme for "Ozymandias".

The first line we can call A because it ends with the word land.

The next is B, because stone and land do not rhyme, so we have to give the second line a different letter.

We then have sand, sand and land rhyme.

So the third line gets the same letter as the first.

It uses the same rhyme pattern, so line of three is A.

Now line four becomes B.

Because stone and frown are, whilst we don't pronounce them in a way that rhymes, we can assume that Shelley intended for those to rhyme.

Command is again, A, we have land, sand and command.

Next we have red.

Red does not rhyme with any of the proceeding lines, therefore it gets given the letter C.

We then have things which doesn't again, which again, doesn't rhyme with any of the proceeding lines, so it gets the letter D.

Fed however rhymes with red, so red and fed are both C.

Appear, appear does not rhyme with any of the preceding lines.

Therefore, it gets a completely different letter, E.

Kings, Kings rhymes with things.

Therefore the we signify the rhyme of that line with the letter D.

Despair rhymes with appear.

Decay does not rhyme with any of the proceeding lines, bear rhymes with appear despair, therefore we give it an E.

And lastly, away rhymes with decay.

So here we have the rhyme scheme of Shelley's sonnets, A, B, A, B, A, C, D, C, E, D, E, F, E, F.

We're going to map this side by side with the traditional Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme.

So this is the rhyme scheme for the traditional Petrarchan sonnet, A, B, B, A, A, B, B, A, C, D, E, C, D, E.

We can see here that Ozymandias subverts the traditional rhyme scheme of the Petrarchan Sonnet.

In other words, it does not match up to the rhyme scheme of the traditional Petrarchan Sonnet.

So it's subverting traditional conventions.

However, Shelley does adhere to the octet-volta-sestet structure of the Petrarchan and Sonnet.

Let's go through what that means now.

So Shelley's sonnet does begin with an octet.

The octet is the first eight lines that pose a problem.

The problem seems to be the crumbling statue.

The sestet is the last six lines that begin with a sudden change of emotion.

We call that a volta.

I want you to discuss how this line here "And on the pedestal these words appear", could be shown as indicating a change in emotion or volta.

Pause the video and discuss that now.

This part of the poem moves away from the pitiful state of the statue and juxtaposes it with Ozymandias arrogance.

So it is in this line and on the pedestal these words appear that we see the volta occur.

Finally, the sestet provides a solution.

The power of nature prevails over the power of mankind.

So far, we've seen how Ozymandias both subverts and adheres to the Petrarchan and sonnet conventions.

It subverts the rhyme scheme, but it adheres to the octet-volta-sestet structure.

Now let's compare Ozymandias to the Shakespearean Sonnet.

Ozymandias does not follow the Shakespearian Sonnet rhyme scheme completely either.

The Shakespearian rhyme scheme goes as follows, A B, A, B, C, D, C, D, E, F, E, F, G, G.

However, the first and last four lines match the Shakespearian sonnet rhyme scheme.

So we can see here how Shelley takes things from the Petrarchan sonnet and borrows things from the Shakespearean sonnet and almost merges them together to create his sonnet Ozymandias.

So by breaking away from both traditional sonnet forms and instead merging the two forms, what could Shelley be using form to show? Pause the video and discuss.

Shelley may have merged the Shakespearean and Petrarchan and Sonnet forms to show that one type of power eventually gives way to another power, much like the Petrarchan Sonnet gave way to the Shakespearean sonnet.

Shelley is showing how the power of one type of literary convention does not last.

It always gives way to the power of a new literary convention.

And Shelley subverts both of the traditional Sonnet forms to show that man-made structures do not last much like the power of literary conventions.

Let's check your understanding because we've explored some really complex ideas there.

What is the form of Ozymandias? Is it a ballad, a sonnet, or a dramatic monologue? Pause video and answer that question.

Well done if you said Ozymandias takes the form of a Sonnet.

Now, true or false, Shelley adheres completely to the Petrarchan Sonnet form.

Pause the video and answer that question now.

World done, a few said false.

Shelley does not adhere completely to the Petrarchan Sonnet form.

Now justify your answer, pause the video and justify.

Now we know that Shelley does not adhere completely to the Petrarchan and sonnet form because Shelley adheres to the octet-volta-sestet of the Petrarchan sonnet, but subverts the rhyme scheme.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, for what reason may Shelley have merged the Petrarchan and Shakespearean Sonnet? Pause the video and answer this question.

Shelley may have merged the Petrarchan and Shakespearean Sonnet to show that one type of power always gives way to a new one.

The Petrarchan sonnet was created and popular around the 1300s.

Then Shakespeare created his type of Sonnet around the 15 to 1600s.

That means that the power of the Petrarchan Sonnet did not last.

And then Shelley wrote a brand new Sonnet form that we see now in 1817 when he wrote "Ozymandias".

So we have seen how the power of the Petrarchan Sonnet gave way to the power of the Shakespearean sonnet, and then the power of the Shakespearean sonnet gives way to Shelley's new sonnet form.

For what reason may Shelley have subverted the traditional sonnet form? Pause the video and answer that question now.

Shelley may have subverted the traditional sonnet form to show that human power is ephemeral like literary conventions.

So Shelley may be changing the structures of the traditional sonnet and subverting the conventions to show that the power of literary conventions does not last.

Neither does the human power depicted in the poem via statute.

Now, write a paragraph outlining how language, form and structure in Ozymandias work together to echo Shelley's message about power.

Here are some sentence starters to help you in Ozymandias.

The lines suggest, ironically, Shelley's overarching message of Ozymandias is, he emphasises this through, and this is echoed via, the merging of suggests and the subversion of suggests.

You also have words to include that might help you strengthen your response.

The words are sonnet, subvert, Petrarchan, Shakespearean, nature, power, ephemeral, ironic, and arrogance.

So use the sentence starters and use the words on the right there to write your paragraph outlining how language, form, and structure work together to echo Shelley's message about power.

Pause the video and get writing.

I've been so impressed by how you manage to write about some really complex ideas today.

Here are some ideas of what you may have written.

In Ozymandias, the lines, "My name is Ozymandias king of kings.

Look on my work you mighty and despair", have an authoritative tone, suggesting that arrogance of Ozymandias in thinking his power would be eternal.

Ironically, the statue of Ozymandias crumbles pitifully, much like his power.

Shelley's message that human power is ephemeral is echoed by the formal structure of the poem.

The merging of Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet suggests that all old power will eventually have to give way to new power.

Subversion of both sonnet forms suggests that manmade power does not last, much like the literary conventions used in the poem.

So this response was written by a student.

They wrote about how human power is depicted in the poem, but they forgot to mention how the power of nature is depicted.

Check your own work to ensure you, check your own work to ensure you remembered to discuss the power of nature.

Pause the video and check your work.

Here's what the student could have added to improve their work.

Shelley's overarching message of Ozymandias is that human power is ephemeral and that nature outlasts all of man.

He emphasises this through alliteration at the end of the poem, "The sands are boundless, bare, lone and level" the alliteration brings attention and awe to the power of nature.

Great job in improving your work to talk about the power of nature too.

Here's what we've learned today.

Breaking the Sonnet form reflects the way that human power and man-made structures can be disrupted and destroyed.

Shelley use its symbolic adjectives to emphasise the temporary nature of political and human power and achievements.

The alliterative final imagery reinforces the insignificance or rulers compared with the desert suns.

And the ironic quoting of Ozymandias' works demonstrates the meaninglessness of his legacy and his weakness.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope to see you again soon.