2. Eac
Each guided poetry lesson will cover a different poem from the 17 in the anthology.
It is important to remember that you will NOT be allowed to take your annotated anthology in to the exam.

3. Eac

4. Eac

5. Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Poem 16.
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

6. Ozymandias 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 shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d 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.

7. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
AO3 – Contextual Introduction.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
 Percy Bysshe Shelley was a Romantic poet.
He was born into a wealthy family from Sussex and his father was an MP.
Shelley had radical views from a young age.
Shelley was even expelled from Oxford University for taking part in the writing of a pamphlet called ‘The Necessity of Atheism’. This rejection of religion was seen as shocking to a deeply religious 19th-century society.
Shelley’s second marriage was to Mary Shelley, who was famous in her own right for her gothic novel Frankenstein.
Shelley died less than a month before his 30th birthday. He drowned in a boating accident, after getting caught in a sudden storm.

8. Who is the narrator? What is his/her connection to Ozymandias?

9. What kind of man was Ozymandias?

10. What does the statue look like?

11. What would you say is the main THEME in the poem?

12. What is your favourite line and why?

13. Highlight an example of alliteration . . . What is the effect?
AO2
The poem is full of contrasts How many can you find? Why has the writer used these?
In what way is the poem ironic? Find some quotations to support your ideas.
Work out the rhyme scheme (abab for example). What is the effect of this?
Highlight the final line; how does it make you feel? Explain your ideas using terminology.
Highlight examples of aggressive language – why has the writer used these words?
Highlight an example of alliteration What is the effect?
Underline all the descriptions of Oxymandias. How does the writer present him?
Highlight the words you don’t know – use the dictionary to find a definition.

14. What is the poem about?- AO1 and AO3
Ozymandias is another name for one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs – Ramses II or Ramses the Great. He was a warrior king and a builder of temples, statues and monuments. He was the powerful King of a past civilization.
In the poem, the narrator meets a traveller who tells him about a statue standing in the middle of a desert.
The traveller talks about how grand the statue looks and how Ozymandias was a great man because of the inscription on the base of the statue.
However, the statue has crumbled and it is now just a pile of ruins in the middle of a desert. This is all that remains of the powerful King.
Shelley was critical of the royal family and monarchical government in England and sympathised with the ideals behind the French Revolution. ‘Ozymandias’ has been read by some as a condemnation of undemocratic or tyrannical government, reflecting Shelley’s radical views.

15. The story is a second-hand account- as a reader we are distanced from the power of the King
AO2
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 shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed;
Suggestion of size and stature, but, also sounds incomplete
The setting is lifeless and there is an absence of vitality
Irony- even though he was powerful whilst alive, even he cannot stop the effects of time or the destructive nature of history
The sculptor has captured the cold look of Ozymandias and a certain arrogance
Oxymoron- highlights the many contrasts.
The contrast between Ozymandias when he was alive and the statue that stands now.
The contrast between arrogance and power and the natural course of history
The contrast between the temporary (Kings, civilisations etc) and the permanent (the land, weather, time etc)
Aggressive language- suggests tyranny and arrogance of the King

16. AO2
The words are the only real thing that has survived. They show his power and arrogance. They also show how he thought he was above all other Kings.
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.
Ironic / poignant- all that is left from his arrogance and boasting is a pile of ruins
The achievements of the King mean nothing in comparison to the passing of time- all his power is insignificant because now he is just a ‘wreck’
The desert is vast and longer lasting than any statue. Also suggests that there are many more statues.
Alliteration: emphasises the feeling of empty space and of being insignificant. Repetition of the same letters almost sounds like an echo

17. Structure- AO2 a b a b a c d c e d e f e f
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 shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d 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.
Structure- AO2 a b
The poem is in the form of a sonnet (14 line poem)
It is written in iambic pentameter and flows in a conversational way.
It has an unusual rhyme scheme for the sonnets of the time.
Why do you think the poet has chosen this structure and what could the unusual rhyme scheme represent? a b a c d c e d e f e f

18. The poem explores power and status. The poet admires Ozymandias.
Task 1 AO1
 Look at the statements below and decide which ones are true.
Task 2 AO1
 Next to each statement, add evidence from the poem that supports your assertion that it is true.
Task 3 AO2 and AO3
 Branching off from your evidence, add notes about the language, connotations of words and how this could link to the CONTEXT. You could also add images/symbols which would trigger your memory when revising this poem.
The poem explores power and status.
The poet admires Ozymandias.
Ozymandias was once a proud, tyrannical ruler.
The poem suggests we have all the time in the world.
The poem is about legacies and what we leave behind after we die.
The poet suggests that pride comes before a fall.
The poem is about time and nature and how man cannot conquer either.
Shelley suggests that art and language will outlast humans and other legacies of power.
The reader is left to imagine the sculptor as well as Ozymandias’ character.
It is ironic that it is the sculptor’s legacy that will last and not Ozymandias’ power.