Lesson video

Hi there.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson, which is on understanding the poem "Ozymandias".

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

I'm really excited for today's lesson.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to explain how Shelley presents the values of Romanticism in "Ozymandias." We'll learn about who Shelley is, what Romanticism is, and how the poet, Shelley, presented Romanticism in "Ozymandias." Here are our key words for today.

Don't worry if they look a bit tricky initially, we'll learn them together.

The first one is Romantic.

Romantic refers to a style of literature which was popular in the late 18th and early 19th century.

This style of literature explored emotion and nature, and it emphasised emotion over reason and the power and beauty of nature.

Immortalise is our next word.

Immortalise means to cause someone to be remembered for a long time.

So, if a statue is made of someone, it may be said to immortalise them because it causes them to be remembered for many years to come.

Ephemeral is our next word.

Ephemeral means lasting for only a short time.

If someone's power is ephemeral, their power only has lasted a short time.

Our next key word is pacifist.

A pacifist is someone who is against war or violence.

And allegory.

An allegory is a piece of work in which the characters or events represent moral ideas.

You may have come across several allegories throughout your study of English.

So, I'll give you a moment to jot down those keywords.

Pause the video and make note.

Great, so let's get started.

We're first going to read "Ozymandias" together and make sure we understand the poem.

We're then going to understand the context for "Ozymandias", so that's where Romanticism will come in.

So, let's start off by reading the poem "Ozymandias".

The poem "Ozymandias" was inspired by a statue of Egyptian ruler Ramesses II, and the statue is on screen there for you.

Based on your initial thoughts about this picture and our big ideas of power and conflict, what might this poem explore? Pause the video and discuss that now.

I heard some really great ideas.

Some of you said that perhaps the poem looks at powerful figures since an Egyptian ruler is likely quite powerful.

And others mentioned that idea of immortalization, perhaps this ruler wanted to immortalise their power through a statue.

Excellent discussion there.

Let's start the reading.

"Ozymandias", by Percy Shelley.

We're going to read the poem aloud, "I met a traveller from an antique land, who said, 'Two vast and trunkless 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 bear the lone and level sands stretch far away.

'" So, that's our first reading of this poem.

Let's dissect it together now.

I now want you to read it aloud again.

This time we're going to use three different voices.

We're going to use one voice for the black lines 'cause this is the speaker of the poem.

We're then going to use one for the purple lines, this is the traveller.

And then, we're going to use a different voice for the bold purple lines, this is the voice of Ozymandias.

Let's read it again in three different voices, "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 bear the lone and level sands stretch far away.

'" Hopefully reading that poem in three different voices has helped you comprehend what's going on a bit better.

Let's discuss how the voice of Ozymandias, the voice in bold purple, differs from the rest of the poem.

Can you link this to our big idea of power? Pause video and discuss that with your partner now.

You may have said that Ozymandias' voice, the lines in bold purple, seem powerful and authoritative as Ozymandias calls himself king of kings and boasts the impressiveness of his works.

He also commands people to show awe and respect.

Now, let's read through the poem again and we're going to annotate any words or phrases that link to power and conflict.

So, I'll let you read in your head this time.

As you're reading, annotate any words or phrases that link to power and conflict.

Pause video and do that now.

These are the words I annotated.

I think these words link to power and conflict.

I've chosen vast, half sunk, shattered, command, mocked pedestal, king of kings, look on my Work, ye Mighty and despair, and colossal wreck.

Now, we've looked at the three different voices in the poem, we've explored how Ozymandias' voice is powerful and authoritative, and we've also explored how quite a lot of the words within the poem could be linked to either power or conflict or both.

So, what do you think this poem is about? I want you to give me your quick thoughts, pause the video and have a quick think.

My quick thoughts about the poem is that a traveller describes a broken statue in the desert and the statue depicts a ruler that was once really powerful.

Now, I want you to answer this question, check your understanding of what we've discussed so far.

The voice of Ozymandias is presented as, is it weak, childish, arrogant, or authoritative? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said Ozymandias' voice in the poem is presented as both arrogance and authoritative.

This is because he calls himself king of kings and he wants people to feel insecure or intimidated when they look upon his works.

Now, answer this.

How many different voices are there in the poem together? Pause the video and have a think well done if you said there are three voices altogether in the poem: there's the voice of the speaker, the voice of the traveller, and the voice of Ozymandias.

I now want you to write a short four-part summary of the poem based on our initial readings.

Your questions to answer to create your summary are, what do you think the poem is about, and how does it link to power and conflict? What perspectives are there in the poem? What is the mood or tone of the poem? And which time period is the poem linked to? So, pause the video and write your four-part summary now.

Off you go.

Let's go through some possible ideas for your summary.

Number one, the poem seems to be about a ruined statue of a once powerful ruler, but words such as shattered, sunk, and wreck make me think that this person's power did not last.

Number two, there are three perspectives in the poem: that of the speaker, that of the traveller, and that of Ozymandias.

The tone seems to change depending on the voice.

The voice of Ozymandias, as we've said, is authoritative.

The voice of the traveller, though, seems to mock or show contempt because we see the traveller really focusing on describing how shattered and wrecked the statue is.

That could suggest that the traveller is mocking the arrogance of Ozymandias.

And lastly, this poem is linked to ancient Egyptian history because the statue depicts the ancient Egyptian ruler Ozymandias or Ramesses II.

Well done on answering all those questions to create your summary.

I hope you've got a really good grasp on the basics of the poem now.

Let's go on to our second learning cycle where we'll understand the context for "Ozymandias".

So, what is the context for "Ozymandias"? To fully understand this poem, we must look into the context.

Ozymandias was written by Percy Shelley, who lived between the years 1792-1822.

Shelley was a poet with strong views.

He was anti-monarchy, anti-religion, and he supported social justice.

He was also a Romantic poet.

Romantic literature explored several ideas.

So, by Romantic we don't mean the type of affection you'd show if you're in love with someone, we mean a movement that originated in the late 18th century to early 19th century and explored ideas such as the awe of nature, so how nature is very breathtaking and beautiful, the critique of progress, rejection of powerful institutions, break from convention, celebration of the individual, fascination with the past, and emphasis on emotion over reason.

Now, do you see any of these Romantic ideas in the poem "Ozymandias"? Pause the video, discuss that with your partner.

I heard some of you say, "That the awe of nature is shown in this poem via the sands which are described as boundless.

They seem to overpower that statute." We also see in this poem the fascination with the past.

Shelley decided to write about a time in the past, he decided to write about ancient Egyptian history, which shows how Romantics had a fascination with the past.

Lastly, we could see also the emphasis on emotion in the poem because we really see Ozymandias' facial features being described, which depict his sneer of cold commands, suggesting that his emotions may have had a big impact on the people around him.

Now, answer this question to check your understanding of Romantic literature.

Which is not a convention of Romantic literature: fascination with the past, awe of nature, critique of progress, or rejection of emotion? Pause the video and answer that question now.

Well done if you said, "Rejection of emotion is not a convention of Romantic literature." Remember, Romantic literature actually emphasises emotion over reason, it does not reject emotion.

And of course, as we've mentioned, Romantic literature does indeed explore fascination with the past, the awe of nature, and the critique of progress.

Well done if you got that right.

Another question to check your understanding now.

"I met a traveller from an antique land," this quote from the poem "Ozymandias" shows which convention of Romantic literature? Is it the emphasis on emotion, the rejection of powerful institutions, or a fascination with the past? Pause video and answer that question now.

Well done if you said, "'I met a traveller from an antique land,' shows how Romantic literature was concerned with fascination with the past." This phrase, "Antique land," builds a curiosity about ancient Egyptian history.

Now, the statue of Ramesses II had just been unearthed at the time of Shelley's writing.

Ramesses II was also known as Ozymandias, and he was an Egyptian pharaoh that ruled from 1,279-1,213 BC.

Egyptian pharaohs believed themselves to be God's immortal form and thought their power was eternal, hence they had statues created of them to immortalise their great power.

Now, I want you to look at the words on the screen there.

They're all from the poem, so we've got sunk, wreck, trunkless, shattered, decay, and nothing.

What do you think is Shelley's message regarding Pharaonic Egypt? Pause the video and discuss that now.

By using all of these words sunk, wreck, trunkless, shattered, decay, and nothing, Shelley creates a semantic field of decay.

And through this semantic field of decay, Shelley may be exposing the ruin of Pharaonic Egypt and criticising the belief that their power would be invincible because Shelley shows that this statue has crumbled and it's in a colossal wreck, which symbolises the fall of Pharaonic Egypt.

Now, let's answer this question to check your understanding.

What does Shelley show through the semantic field of decay? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said, "Through the semantic field of decay, Shelley shows that the power of Pharaonic Egypt fell to ruin." Remember, we said words such as wreck and shattered symbolise how the statue has crumbled much like the power of Pharaonic Egypt.

Shelley's inspiration for the poem may have also come from King George III, who was on the throne at the time of Shelley's writing.

King George III engaged in many military conflicts and was remembered for tyranny and oppression, which Shelley, as a pacifist, rejected.

So, remember, pacifists were people who rejected war and violence, so Shelley rejected many of King George's pursuits because they were associated with war and violence.

I now want you to discuss which lines in the poem link to tyranny and may support the idea that King George III was an inspiration for this poem? Pause the video and answer that question now.

You may have said, "That words such as frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command could link to tyranny and may suggest that Shelley was indeed critiquing a tyrannical leader." The power of King George III and Ramesses II and, indeed, many other famous rulers did not last.

So, what could Shelley be saying about human power altogether? Pause the video and discuss that question now.

The poem could be read as an allegory for the ephemeral nature of human power.

Remember, we said an allegory is a piece of work in which the characters or events represent a moral message.

So, this poem, which depicts the crumbling of a statue, could show us that every type of human power, especially those who believe especially those people who are arrogant, that every type of human power will not last.

Let's check your understanding once more.

Which line from the poem best reflects Shelley's critique of a particularly tyrannical leader? Pause the video and answer that question.

You may have said, "That the phrase sneer of cold command suggests that Shelley was critiquing a tyrannical leader because the word sneer suggests that Ozymandias looked down upon people, and of course, cold command suggests he ordered people and told them what to do in a very rude way or callous and cruel way." Now, I want you to write about the wider context of "Ozymandias" and how it links to the poem using tentative language.

We use tentative language because we cannot know for certain what inspired Shelley to write this poem or why he made particular language choices.

Here are some sentence starters to help you.

"Shelley rejected.

which meant.

." "As a Romantic poem, 'Ozymandias'.

." "Shelley may have been inspired by.

." "'Ozymandias' may be a critique of.

." "And it could be an allegory for.

." Here are some words that will demonstrate your use of tentative language.

Make sure you use them in your answer.

Pause the video and start your writing task now.

Excellent effort, everyone.

Now, I want you to compare this response to your own.

Let's read it, "'Ozymandias' was written by the Romantic poet Percy Shelley, who is anti-monarchy and anti-religion.

The poem perhaps reflects Shelley's rejection of powerful institutions as it uses a ruined statue, thought to be inspired by Ramesses II, to depict the ephemeral power of Pharaonic Egypt.

We see how the Egyptian pharaohs, despite believing they were God's in mortal form or king of kings, as Ozymandias describes himself, eventually crumbled much like their statues shattered.

Shelley seems to critique both the arrogance of man and also oppressive leadership.

He may have been influenced to describe Ozymandias' statue with a sneer of cold command to reflect another once powerful leader: King George III, who Shelley rejected and deemed a tyrant." Let's unpick why this response is successful.

Firstly, it contains contextual knowledge.

Contextual knowledge is any piece of background information that surrounds the poem.

So, that might be about Shelley's life, that might be about Shelley's inspiration for the poem, and it also might be about what was going on at the time in the society that he lived in.

This response also contains tentative language.

It uses words such as perhaps, seams, and may to show that these are just possibilities.

It also uses evidence from the poem.

It uses three quotes, it uses, "King of Kings," "Shattered," and, "Sneer of cold command." This helps support your ideas effectively.

Now, I want you to consider your own answer.

Did you include contextual knowledge, tentative language, and evidence from the poem? Add anything you're missing now.

Pause the video and improve your work.

Brilliant, I'm really impressed by how you've been able to apply new, complex, contextual knowledge to this poem.

Let's go through what we've learned.

Shelley was a Romantic poet who rejected monarchy, religion, and other powerful institutions.

"Ozymandias" reflects conventions of Romantic literature, such as awe of nature, emotion, rejection of human power, and a fascination with the past.

The poem reflects the power of Pharaonic Egypt, which seemed eternal but felt to ruin.

"Ozymandias" can be read as a criticism of individuals and institutions that consider themselves invincible.

And "Ozymandias" can also be read as an allegory for the ephemeral nature of human power.

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

I hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope you'll join me again soon.