1. AQA ‘POWER AND CONFLICT’ POETRY
‘OZYMANDIAS’ BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

2. YOUR STARTER: ORACY TASK
What is happening in this picture? What do you think this event could symbolise? What are the connotations of a statue?
YOUR STARTER: ORACY TASK

3. ORACY TASK: CONSIDER THIS
These are places that once represented power.
What are they like now?
What do you think this poem will be about?

4. TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
CONTEXT: SUM UP THE INFORMATION IN 5 BULLET POINTS
Percy Bysshe Shelley was a ROMANTIC poet. Many ROMANTIC poets wrote about the power of nature and time, exotic lands and criticised the ruling classes. All of these themes link to ‘Ozymandias’.
‘Ozymandias’ is Shelley’s most famous sonnet, and one of the best known in English Literature, although it does not stick strictly to the rules of the usual sonnet form. Shelley was against many of the conventions of his time.
The poem was written in The historical context is the archaeological finds that had been made in Egypt, which were Shelley’s inspiration. Ozymandias was another name for the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II.
TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
How does the poem, ‘Ozymandias’, link to the themes of POWER and CONFLICT?
What is ‘Romanticism’ and how has it influenced Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’?
What should I be looking for when analysing a poem?

5. YOUR TASK: POEM RUN It looks like the poem is structured…
In front of me, I have a copy of ‘Ozymandias’. You will have FOUR chances in your group to come up and look at the poem.
Take in as much information as you can before going back to your table and writing down any points you can remember.
BEWARE! The point of this task is not to memorise the poem. Instead, you need to be looking at groups of words that are used, the structure of the poem or the length of the lines.
What do you initially notice?
It looks like the poem is structured…
Words belonging to the semantic field of ‘…’ are included.
The poem is very long/short.
The poem seems to be about...

6. WHAT IS THE POEM ABOUT?
This poem is based on a story Shelley had read about a funeral temple of the Egyptian pharaoh, Rameses II, whom the Greeks called ‘Ozymandias’. According to the story, the temple bore an inscription which read: ‘I am Ozymandias, king of kings; if anyone wishes to know how great I am and the place where kings like me lie, let him surpass any of my works.’

7. WHAT IS THE POEM ABOUT?
However, he used slave labour to build them and the slaves suffered hardship under his control.
Today, many of these memorials and statues have crumbled into the sands of the desert.
Rameses II during his reign built more temples and monuments, took more wives (8) and had more children (over 100) than any other pharaoh.
He wanted to built memorials for himself, which he imagined would last forever.

8. Ozymandias WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SHELLEY’S TITLE?
Ozy comes from the Greek ‘ozium’ which means either, ‘to breathe’ or ‘air’.
Mandias comes from the Greek ‘mandate’ which means ‘to rule’.
How does this reflect what we know about the poem already?
TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
How does the poem, ‘Ozymandias’, link to the themes of POWER and CONFLICT?
What is ‘Romanticism’ and how has it influenced Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’?
What should I be looking for when analysing a poem?

9. 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 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 bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.
TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
How does the poem, ‘Ozymandias’, link to the themes of POWER and CONFLICT?
What is ‘Romanticism’ and how has it influenced Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’?
What should I be looking for when analysing a poem?

10. TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
ANALYSING THE POEM
On your table you have a set of questions that will help you analyse ‘Ozymandias’. You can answer these as a group, in pairs or by yourself.
Answer as annotations in your anthology. Be as detailed as possible. Questions in bold are challenging.
Once we have completed this activity we will share our ideas as a class to make sure we understand what is happening in Shelley’s poem.
TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
How does the poem, ‘Ozymandias’, link to the themes of POWER and CONFLICT?
What is ‘Romanticism’ and how has it influenced Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’?
What should I be looking for when analysing a poem?

11. ORACY TASK
You have TWO minutes to discuss the questions on your table.
You must NOT write anything in this two minutes. It is purely for discussion.
When your time is up, I will give you one minute to add any notes to your copy of the poem.
Make sure you have something ready to contribute.

12. TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
CLASS FEEDBACK
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 bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Annotate poem on board using students’ ideas.
TODAY’S KEY QUESTIONS:
How does the poem, ‘Ozymandias’, link to the themes of POWER and CONFLICT?
What is ‘Romanticism’ and how has it influenced Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’?
What should I be looking for when analysing a poem?

13. YOUR OPINION
Shelley wrote ‘Ozymandias’ in friendly competition with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith (1779–1849), who also wrote a sonnet on the same topic with the same title. Smith's poem was published in The Examiner a few weeks after Shelley's sonnet. Both poems explore the fate of history and the ravages of time: even the greatest men and the empires they forge are impermanent, their legacies fated to decay into oblivion. Which one do you prefer?
IN Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,        Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws        The only shadow that the Desart knows:—      "I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,        "The King of Kings; this mighty City shows      "The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,—        Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose      The site of this forgotten Babylon.
    We wonder,—and some Hunter may express      Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness        Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,      He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess        What powerful but unrecorded race        Once dwelt in that annihilated place.
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 bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. VS

14. TO CONCLUDE: ORACY TASK
Let’s revisit this picture. Can you add anything else to your initial impressions? What is this picture saying about power?
TO CONCLUDE: ORACY TASK

16. RESOURCES

17. What message is Shelley trying to present to his reader?
ORACY TASK #1
Whose work has lasted through the statue? Ozymandias’ or the sculptor’s?
What message is Shelley trying to present to his reader?

18. ‘Nothing beside remains.’
ORACY TASK #2
‘Nothing beside remains.’
What is the effect of this line? What could it mean?
Could it have TWO meanings? Consider what has happened to Ozymandias’ power.

19. Does the poem remind you of any
ORACY TASK #3
Does the poem remind you of any
modern figures?
If so, who? Why?

20. ORACY TASK #4
Where is the POWER and CONFLICT in this poem? Discuss specific examples.
Is Shelley saying anything about the power of nature in this poem? If so, what?

21. ORACY TASK #5 “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
What feelings do you think these lines were meant to evoke at the time the statue was built?
What feelings do they now evoke from a modern perspective?