Video: Ozymandias (Part 1)

﻿Hi, I'm Miss Walker, I hope you're doing well today. In today's lesson, we are going to be doing the first reading of the poem, Ozymandias, which is a text from the 19th century. And even though that is from a long time ago, it's still got some really important messages in it today, which makes us realise as humans, just how sort of powerless and insignificant we can sometimes be in the face of nature and time. Before we get started with establishing meaning within the poem and looking at the key ideas, I'd like you to make sure that you have a pen and paper, or something to write on and with for the lesson. And before we get started, I'd also like you to make sure that your working areas is free of as many distractions as possible. Pause the video now, to get your equipment and to make sure that the work area is free of distractions. The key question for today is how does Shelley present Ozymandias in the poem? Key vocabulary for today, you've got two new words, let's take a look at them. First word, tyrant. This is a cruel leader who uses their power to treat people unkindly and unjustly. The first example, the King would punish anybody who disobeyed him. You could therefore describe him as a tyrant who ruled with fear and force. Second example, the leader was a tyrant. They manage the company in a vile and cruel way, which resulted in employees feeling worthless. Note that it's not only kings that can be tyrants, it can be anywhere, or it can be anyone who abuses their power and treats the people below them as if they are powerless. Second word, tyrannical. The definition of this is the quality that describes a person who abuses their power in a cruel, corrupt and unjust way. First example, tyrannical and unkind, the queen had little support for her country or from her country. So the reason here that she's unsupported is because she abuses her power and she's corrupt. Second example, the storyteller creates an image of a tyrannical leader who abuses their power to achieve what they want. Quite a short task here, the question, which sentence best describes the tyrant? Is it A, the child bossed their younger brothers around and forced them to make snacks for him. Or is it B, the King was able to take control when situations became bad. Can you pause the video now, to write down whether you think it is A or B, that best describes a tyrant? Brilliant, it is A. It's the child who's bossy, they force their younger siblings to do things they don't want to do, and the King not to tyrant, he's actually able to take control when things go wrong. He doesn't display characteristics of a tyrant in this example. Another quick task, write a sentence of your own, that uses the word tyrannical. There's an image on the right to help you, and I've also provided you with an example. It might look something like this. The King was tyrannical, he would burn whole villages and towns down if he felt unsupported by his people. So here, the example shows he's very cool. Pause the video, to complete your own sentence. We'll also be making use of this word from previous lessons, oppression. If you haven't already got the definition of the word down in your notes, pause here to make sure you do have it. Is always really important to know the background and the context behind why a poem was written in the first place. So let's have a look at why Ozymandias was written. Percy Bysshe Shelley, the focus of today's lesson is an English poet and key figure in the romantic movement. He was an atheist and he held radical views on the church, the government and the monarchy. He was heavily opposed to all three of them. He was also opposed to tyranny and corruption. So people behaving badly, oppressing their people and acting unkindly. Just to note at the bottom there, an atheist is a person who does not believe in God or religion. So I said Shelly was part of the romantic movement, which was a movement in the 18th and 19th century. It's a moment in literature when writers and artists rejected the audit and rules of the establishment, of the government and the monarchy, in favour of writing about their emotions. And they were heavily influenced by the beauty and power of nature. So the mountains and lakes, for example, and I also chose to write about the importance of the imagination. The title of the poem is actually named after an Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279 BC, that's over 3200 years ago. In the early 19th century, the ruins of the statue were brought back to the UK and acquired by the British museum. Shelley and his writing friend, Horace Smith, challenged each other to a little competition, to write a sonnet about the statues ruins. Both of the sonnets are titled Ozymandias, and both review this idea of even the greatest leaders and empires are not permanent, and that everyone will eventually decay. Shelly's poem particularly imagines the statue as it might have been found, broken and alone in the desert. Here's some questions to check your understanding of context. I'll read the questions out. One, name two things that Shelly was opposed to. Two, what poetic movement was Shelly an important part of? Three, state one thing writers in this movement focused on writing about? Four, what statue was the inspiration for the poem Ozymandias. And finally, what point does the poem Ozymandias make about human power? Pause the video here, to answer the questions. Great, here are some possible answers to those questions. Shelly was opposed to the church, the monarchy, and he was also opposed to the control of the government. He was part of the romantic movement, and romantic poets chose to write about nature, the importance of imagination, experiences and feelings. The inspiration for the poem is the statue of Ramesses II, and finally the poem makes the reader acknowledge that humans are only temporary, and all of their power will eventually come to an end. It's now time to read the poem through. The words that have been emboldened to words that we might not be familiar with, so I've popped them in a glossary at the bottom of the screen. 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 it's 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 loan in level sands stretch far away. I hope you enjoyed the poem. I think it's really poignant for making people realise just how insignificant we are, which sounds horrible. But I think it's really important message to humans, that time will always triumph for over us. Now we need to focus on establishing meaning from that poem. We'll start with a summary of what happens throughout. I've broken the sonnet down into three parts. Lines one to four, the speaker retail's a traveller story. The traveller has seen the shattered remains of a statue in the desert. And we know that the face of the statue lies in the sand half sunk. Lines five to nine, the face has an expression of cold snaring command, suggesting that this pharaoh was a powerful and perhaps tyrannical, so cruel, nasty leader. The traveller suggests that the statue sculptor must've known and understood the ruler really well. At the base of the statute, read the ruler's words, "My name is Ozymandias, "King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair! Now this is a very powerful statement and ironic as well, because there are no works left to look upon. As around the statue, there is only sand and the desert that stretches out empty and wide. Ozymandias' kingdom is nowhere left to be seen. In order to establish meaning, we're going to focus on specific groups of lines from the poem. We'll look at the first three lines. I met a traveller from an antique land who said, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone, "stand in the desert." We know that the poem's narrator starts the poem. However, I want to ask you, who is speaking after the speech marks? Secondly, antique means ancient or belonging to ancient times. What can the reader infer about the statue from this? Also consider your contextual knowledge here to help you. Pause the video, to complete the questions. Great, the traveller is speaking from the speech marks, or after the speech marks, and the traveller tells the speaker about the statue. Secondly, the reader can infer that the statue is extremely old. Antique also suggest that the area it was to found has a very long history as well. Here's the second set of lines. Near them on the sand, half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown and wrinkled lip, and snare of cold command. Pause that just to read through the question. Imagine the shattered face of the statue sinking into the desert. It is already half sunk into the sand. What does this image suggest or symbolise about power? And secondly, what do the words "frown", "wrinkled lip" and "sneer of cold command" suggest about Ozymandias' attitude towards the people he ruled. Pause the video here to complete the two questions. Here the response says, Half sung suggests that the statue is being swallowed up by the sand, and this illustrates how nature is consuming and sort of eating up this manmade object. Secondly, the description of the face suggests that he was a cruel leader, a tyrant. Here's the third set of lines. Tell that it's sculptor well, those passions red, which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things. The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed. Question one, here passions really means emotions, feelings or expressions. If the sculptor read them well, what might that mean? The second question, the statue is described as lifeless. What does the objective lifeless suggest about the ruler's power now that his statue has fallen down. Pause the video here, to complete the questions. In response to the first question, is suggested that the statute is a really accurate representation of the type of ruler Ozymandias was, a cruel and unkind one, and the sculptor knew this well, so they were able to accurately portray this on the work of the statue. The second response, the adjective lifeless suggests that the ruler has lost their power and their life. This suggests to the reader that the ruler is not as powerful as he once thought, because nature has outlived him. Lines nine to 11, and on the pedestal, these words appear. My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair! King of Kings is a term used in the Bible to describe God. What is Ozymandias suggesting when he refers to himself as King of Kings? And second question, what does Ozymandias encourage other Kings, rulers and mighty powers to do? Pause the video here, to complete the two questions. Well, King of Kings as we know is used to refer to God at points in the Bible. So it implies that Ozymandias believes he is the most powerful King, and that perhaps his power is God like and internal, which we know is not the case because his statue has fallen, and his kingdom is no longer there. Secondly, Ozymandias encourages others to look upon his mighty and impressive kingdom, his statues monuments and all that he had built. The final three lines, nothing beside remains around the decay of that colossal wreck boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away. Consider the words of Ozymandias that we just looked at. What has happened to his kingdom here? Second question. What does this moment reveal about Ozymandias' attitude? And finally, when he was alive, Ozymandias believed himself to be all powerful. What does Shelley want the reader to understand about human power in these lines? Pause the videos, complete the final set of questions. Great, we're nearly ready to move on to part five. First response, his kingdom has been swallowed up by time and the desert, and now almost nothing remains apart from sand. Secondly, it becomes clear that he was displaying hubris, which is that arrogance which can lead to someone's downfall. Thirdly, we are perhaps supposed to realise that all human power must end because it's ephemeral, which means, it only lasts a short amount of time. Whereas nature is eternal, it lasts forever, it's ongoing. In this section, we're going to collect all our contextual information and all the information we've just got from part four in establishing meaning of the poem. The writing task for today, is to write one paragraph on the following question. How does Shelley present Ozymandias in the poem? Be sure to include two words or phrases from the poems, that's two quotations. In your response, you may wish to include the descriptions of the statue, the words on his pedestal, or you may want to look at the descriptions of the desert that surround him. In your response, you must use both of the words below in the summary. So either tyrant or tyrannical, and oppress or oppression. Pause the video now, to complete the writing task. By now you will have finished your own writing task. I've provided you with two examples that you can compare your own summary to, just to see where you can maybe make improvements or add anything to your own notes. Shelly presents Ozymandias as a cruel and heartless ruler. His sneer tells the reader that he had little respect for the people he commanded. The seer is described as cold, which suggests that he was ruthless and did not rule his kingdom with love. The reader can infer that the statue represents a tyrannical ruler, who oppressed his people, and who led with force and fare. On the next slide, is a slightly more developed answer, the reader is given insight into the vain and egotistical rulings of Ozymandias. His pedestal boldly states that he is King of Kings. The cruel tyrant believes that he was more superior than any ruler. The phrase also implies that he assimilates, which means likens himself to God. The mightest rule is in the land, should look on his works and despair, here, his arrogance is unsurprising as he's described as a cold and mocking ruler. In the poem, Shelley has provided an image of a tyrannical pharaoh who led with force and oppression. Pause here, to compare your response to either the first example, or the example here on the slide. Before we complete the review quiz in just a moment, here's a recap of what we've learned today. We've looked at the context of the poem, Ozymandias, we've read through the poem, and we've also established meaning and understanding of how the great leader Ozymandias has been presented in this poem by Shelley. I'd now like you to complete the review quiz. Brilliant, that's today's lesson over. We have been introduced to the poem Ozymandias by Shelley, and we've understood that Ozymandias is a very powerful tyrannical leader who loses his power to time and nature. In next lesson, we're going to be focusing on the language form and structure, Shelly has chosen to use to explore ideas of power. For now, have a great day.

Exit Quiz: Ozymandias (Part 1)

Completed: Ozymandias (Part 1)

In this lesson, we will explore the meaning and key ideas of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias' (1818). You will be provided with key information about the context of the poem to help understand Shelley's motivations for writing it.

English

Ozymandias (Part 1)

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete