Video: Ozymandias (Part 2): Language, Form and Structure

﻿Hello, I'm Ms. Walker and today's English Literature lesson we are going to be focusing on the language, form, and structure in Ozymandias poem by Shelley. We've already established what the meaning is behind the poem. So we're now going to be looking at how Shelley has used the language, form, structure to portray ideas about power in the poem. Before getting started can you just take a moment to make sure you've got a pen or paper or something to write on and with for today's lesson. And also, can you make sure that your working area is free of any distractions that might get in the way of the lesson. This lesson's key question is, how does Shelley explore ideas about power in Ozymandias? Here's today's' lesson overview. In part one, we will look at the key vocabulary and terminology. In part two, we will explore the central themes in the poem. Before moving on to looking at the language, form, and structure in part three and part four. In part five, there'll be a writing task where we are applying our understanding of the language, form, and structure. And in part six, we will complete a short review quiz. In today's part one, we only have one new word we'll be looking at. That one word is hubris. The definition of which is, a personality trait of arrogance or extreme overconfidence that leads to a person's down fall. Example one, feeling invincible because of his hubris, the man tried his bike trick and failed. So he felt too overconfident. He hadn't quite got the skills yet, he tried and unfortunately he failed. In example two, Ozymandias' hubris is evident in his boast, "Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair." Here, he is displaying great arrogance. Let's apply the key vocabulary. Question one, true or false, a person's hubris can lead them to making bad decisions. And secondly, write your own sentence using the word hubris. Using notes on the previous slide to help. Pause the video to complete the tasks and resume once you're finished. Well done if you got the answer which is true because arrogance and overconfidence, can cloud people's judgement , which can lead to bad decision making. We'll also be making use of these words from previous lessons, Tyrant and Tyrannical. If you don't already have the words or the definitions written down, just pause the video here to make sure you've got them tucked away in your notes. In part two, we're going to look at which types of power are present in the poem. So we know the poem is about power. However, it's not just about power and the contrasting weakness of the ruler Ozymandias, but also about the eternal and everlasting power of nature. Therefore, we have narrowed it down to two major themes and they are; one the power of man and two, the power of nature. Here is a quick toss for you to apply your understanding of the central themes. For each of the two themes, we will now write a sentence that summarises why Shelley wrote the poem so his intentions. I have done a sentence for why he wrote the poem about power of nature, so here it is. In Ozymandias, Shelley seems to suggest that nature truly is all powerful and its power is eternal. Now you're going to do the same for power of man. And I'd like you to challenge yourself and include the key vocabulary for today, which is hubris. Begin the sentence with, In Ozymandias, Shelly suggests. Pause the video here to complete the task. Let's check your response. It might look something like this: In Ozymandias, Shelley seems to suggest that man's power is ephemeral and will always end. He implies that it is hubris for anyone to believe that their power can last forever and he emphasises man's insignificance when faced with the passage of time. Pause here if you'd like to add any of these ideas to your own notes. It's not just enough to know that Shelly was commenting on the power of man. We also need to know that he was opposed to both the government and the King. He believed the King at the time, George, the third was a tyrant and it's possible that he wrote this poem, partly to tell those in power that their days were numbered and that their power would not last forever. And therefore, their tyrannical rule would eventually fall. Quick check for understanding, true or false. I'll read them through a you decide if they are true or false. First, Shelley seems to suggest the power of nature is temporary. Two, Shelley oppose the government and King George the third. Three, it is hubris to believe that your power can last forever and four, Shelley may have written the poem to tell rulers that their power is temporary. Pause the video here to answer those questions before looking at the answers in the next slide. Well done if you got them all correct, the first one and the only one is false. He suggests that power of nature is eternal not of man 'cause that's a ephemeral, which means it doesn't last forever. The other statements were in fact true. Let's take a closer look at Shelley's choice of language in the poem. Now that we have established our two major themes, i.e power of man and power of nature, we need to explore how Shelley has used language to explore these two ideas. Here are three quotations that I've chosen that we're going to focus on, half sunk, a shattered visage lies, nothing beside remains, and boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away. Going to focus on this one first, half sunk, a shattered visage lies. Copy the quotation into your book or into your paper and have it ready to either annotate it or bullet point, the response is underneath. Three questions, first one, what is happening to the statue chief the face to be half sunk? What does this symbolise about man and nature? And three, shattered means completely destroyed. Why might Shelley have chosen the word shattered? So what does the word shattered represent in the poem? Always be thinking about the two central themes, power of man and power of nature. Pause the video here to complete the questions. Let's check your responses. The statue is being swallowed up or buried by the desert. And in fact, nature is consuming it, it's taking it over. Nature's power is not only greater, but eternal whereas man's power never lasts. It's only temporary and fleeting. Three, shattered shows total destruction and exaggerates how broken the statue is, which reinforces this idea, that the broken statue will ever be able to regain power, it's not mendable. Second quotation, nothing beside remains. Round the decay. Again, copy the quotation and I'll read out the questions. Shelley uses a caesura, which is a pause in the line of poetry created using punctuation. And he uses that caesura after remains, the full stops right there. Why might this be effective at this exact moment? Secondly, what does the word nothing emphasise about the destruction of Ozymandias' kingdom, by time and the desert? Pause the video here to complete the questions. The caesura creates an ending and a silence. It's very final. Just like the ending of Ozymandias' kingdom and the silence of the desert that is now there. Nothing is the absolute absence of things. It shows that the ruler, has been totally wiped from existence. Third and final quotation. Boundless and bear the lone and level sands stretch far away. Again, copy the quotation. The questions, the words boundless, bare, describe the desert that stretches out around the fallen statue. What idea about the power of nature do they emphasise? And secondly, lone and level, level meaning flat, are also used to describe desert. What idea about the power of man, do they emphasise? Pause the video to complete the two questions. Admittedly, they are slightly harder than the other ones. The responses, the word boundless emphasises the size of the desert which is huge and intimidating. This is contrasted with the fallen statue that lies powerless as it sinks into the ground. And even though the statue itself would have been huge, it feels insignificant in contrast to the boundless sands. The word bear suggests that the desert is inhospitable, it's bleak and unwelcoming. Its emptiness highlights man's hubris as Ozymandias' kingdom no longer exists. Lone emphasises the isolation and loneliness of man when faced with the powerful force of nature. Level reinforces the message that the man-made objects cannot last forever. They will eventually fall flat. What used to be a powerful kingdom now lies lost under the flat sands of the desert. Now let's take a look at the form that Shelley has used in the poem. So the poem is a sonnet, and that is one stanza 14 lines following iambic pentameter, which has five pairs of syllables and unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. The rhyme scheme and structure of Shelley sonnet is unusual. It can be said to be most like a Petrarchan sonnet, which is a sonnet split into the first eight lines, the octave and the final six lines, the sestet. The octave follows a rhyming pattern, a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a, and there is a structure for it to follow. Whereas the final six lines are a bit more flexible. They don't have a definite rhyme scheme. So that's the type of sonnet that Ozymandias' is most closely related to. However, it does use a different rhyme scheme. Shelley's rhyme scheme, ignores existing expectations of how sonnets should rhyme. So this is really significant because he's challenging these expectations of poetry, which reflects his challenge to the expectations in society, to conform to the government and to what the monarchy is saying. Importantly, the sonnet is framed as a story told by a traveller to the speaker and therefore the reader hears Ozymandias' story through two people, which makes us really distant from the statue. And the further away you are from someone, the less power you feel coming from them. So this undermines Ozymandias' power even further, it makes him seem more like a myth or a figure from a story than a King with any real power. Here's a task for you to complete. Choose the statement that best explains the effect of the unusual rhyme scheme. So remember, there was a reason why, he may have used this unusual rhyme scheme. I'll read through the flow examples and you choose which one you think is best. Example one, Shelley uses the unusual rhyme scheme to reflect the power of nature. It specifically highlights the vulnerability of man. Could it be that one? Example two, the poem ignores existing expectations of how sonnet should rhyme. This reflects the poems challenge to authority. Could be that one? Example three, the Petrarchan sonnet challenges society and makes the reader consider the power of man. Example four, then usual sonnet shocks reader because they would not be expecting it. I now want you to pause it and choose the best statement that explains the effect of the unusual rhyme scheme. Pause the video here. Well done it's example two, the poem ignores the existing expectations of how sonnets should rhyme because it wants to challenge the expectations of the authority of the people in charge in society at the time. And just changing the rhyme scheme is a very clever and subtle way of Shelley doing that. Second question, this story is told by the traveller through the speaker which makes him seem distant to the reader. Why has Shelley done this? I want you to choose the correct explanation, which could be a, the distance demonstrates that the ruler is old. B, the distance challenges the truth in the traveler's story, or c, the distance undermines Ozymandias' power because he is not close enough to appear frightening. Pause the video to choose the best explanation. Well done, the answer is c, the distance undermines Ozymandias' power because he is no longer close enough to intimidate or frighten us. We've now taken a look at how the power of man and the power of nature have been illustrated by Shelly through his use of language, form, and structure. We're now going to apply all that knowledge into a writing task. So the key question was, how does Shelley explore ideas about power in the poem Ozymandias? You're going to write a short response to the question only spending roughly 15 minutes writing it. You may wish to mention the following four bullet points. The description of the statue's face, the contrast between the desert and what Ozymandias says, the effects of time 'cause remember, time is a part of nature, or you might want to comment on the sonnet form. Words and phrases I would like you to include are, hubris, tyrant or tyrannical, the phrases, power of nature or power of man. Pause the video here to complete the writing task. Great you will have finished your writing task. On this slide and the next slide are two examples. Read through both examples and compare them to your own response. If there's anything on the screen that you don't have in your notes, we'll then pause it and take off and add it to your notes. It's really important that you do that. I'll read through the examples. First one, Shelley presents the power of nature in Ozymandias. The statue is overcome by the lone and level sands that stretch far away. The desert is huge, whereas the statue of the tyrant is shattered and crumbling. This suggests that the power of man is inferior to the power of nature. This response is slightly more developed. Shelley presents the power of time in Ozymandias. So I've been really specific there. It's not just nature, it's the power of time. The tyrant's hubris is brought down by the ultimate power of nature, which is ever lasting and enduring. The power of man is revealed to be a ephemeral which is short lived and temporary. As Ozymandias' reign and kingdom cannot outlive the desert in time. The half sunk face symbolises the diminishing power of man as the statue becomes engulfed by the boundless sands. Contrastingly, Shelley has portrayed the power of nature as eternal. Remember to pause the video here and add any extra notes into your own work if you so wish. Final task review quiz make sure you complete it before coming back to the video. That's it for today, we have looked at Ozymandias and how Shelley has used language, form, and structure to explore ideas of power. In the next lesson, we're going to be starting with a new poem called, 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning. I'll see you then.

Exit Quiz: Ozymandias (Part 2): Language, Form and Structure

Completed: Ozymandias (Part 2): Language, Form and Structure

In this lesson, we are going to examine some of the ways Shelley uses language and form to create meaning within the poem. We will be focusing specifically on how the theme of power is presented by Shelley.

English

Ozymandias (Part 2): Language, Form and Structure

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Final Quiz

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