New
New
Year 3

Reading and responding to 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I can read a classic poem and can share my personal response.

New
New
Year 3

Reading and responding to 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I can read a classic poem and can share my personal response.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. 'Ozymandias' is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley that describes a ruined statue of a once-powerful king.
  2. This poem explores the themes of life and death and the passing of time.
  3. A sonnet is a form of poetry with fourteen lines, which usually follows a rhyme scheme.
  4. Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of Britain’s most famous poets.

Keywords

  • Poem - a piece of writing that uses creative and rhythmic language to express thoughts, feelings or ideas, often with a specific structure or pattern

  • Theme - the theme of a poem is the underlying message or central idea that the poet wants to convey, exploring topics or universal concepts that can be found throughout the poem

  • Sonnet - a specific form of poetry that consists of 14 lines and follows a strict rhyme scheme, often expressing deep emotions or ideas

Common misconception

Pupils may think that this poem is inaccessible because the language is difficult to understand.

Teach pupils that poems can be easier to understand once we work out the meaning of each line and explore the vocabulary used. This is modelled in LC1.

You may wish to read and discuss other poems by Shelley to your class.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? Poems are a type of non-fiction text.
Correct Answer: false, False
Q2.
What is the name for a person who writes poetry?
Correct answer: poet
illustrator
publisher
Q3.
True or false? A person may choose to write poetry about anything.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q4.
True or false? All poems need to rhyme.
Correct Answer: false, False
Q5.
Poems use lots of ...
simple words.
Correct answer: descriptive vocabulary.
headings and sub-headings.
Q6.
Which of these words rhymes with the word 'tree'?
grass
trunk
Correct answer: three

6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? A poem is a piece of writing that uses creative and rhythmic language to express thoughts, feelings or ideas.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q2.
Who wrote the poem 'Ozymandias'?
Michael Rosen
William Shakespeare
Correct answer: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Q3.
Where did Percy Bysshe Shelley live?
Correct answer: England
Australia
France
Q4.
True or false? ‘Ozymandias’ is referred to as a ‘classic’ poem.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q5.
What is the name for a type of poem that has 14 lines?
rhyming
Correct answer: sonnet
haiku
Q6.
The poem ‘Ozymandias’ tells a story about an ancient statue and a powerful ...
wizard.
teacher.
Correct answer: king.

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