AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 1
Learning Objectives:
- AO1: Respond to the using details from the poem to support your opinion
- AO2: Analyse the writers’ methods (language, structure and form) and the purposes of these methods
 What is the meaning of Shelley’s title?
Ozy
Now that you understand the meaning of the title, what do you think the poem is going to be about?
 Make a note of your ideas.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 2
The gods had a little help, in the form of pharaohs. Pharaohs were the kings of
Ancient Egypt. In hieroglyphics, pharaoh means “great house” or “palace”, a word that was eventually used to describe the king himself. The ancient Egyptians saw their pharaoh as a god, more specifically as the god Horus. They thought that when the pharaoh died, a new Horus was born to rule on earth, thus achieving eternal life. In reality, the pharaohs headed the government, the army, set taxes, judged criminals and were high priests of all the temples. All this was in theory, of course.
Appointed officials did most of the work, in his name.
http://www.angelfire.com/wi/egypt/phar.html
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Read the poem.
 What are your first impressions of the tone and meaning ?
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Make a note of your ideas.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 3
 Answer the following questions by providing quotes and analysis. Think
PEA - point, example, analysis.
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What does the adjective , ‘antique’ , suggest? Is it a positive or negative description, or is it both ?
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 What is the effect of creating a ‘traveller’ to narrate the story?
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Why does Shelley use
‘vast’ to describe the remains of the statue, rather than ‘big’?
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 What does the noun, ‘frown’ and the noun phrase ‘wrinkled lip’ suggest about the nature of the Pharaoh?
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 Up until line five, Shelley’s focus is on, primarily, the image of the statue in the desert.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 4
 Underline each NOUN and highlight each adjective up until line five.
Then, using this to aid you, in the space below, draw an image of Shelley’s creation of Egypt. Make sure you draw every object the way they are described by the poet.
 At line 6, the poem subject shifts to the sculptor, Ozymandias’s servant: ‘its sculptor well those passions read…’ How does this extract support your previous answers?
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“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” a. What do you think these lines meant in the context of the time ?
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 5
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_____________________________________________________________________ b. What do you think these lines mean in today’s context ? What does the verb, ‘despair’ , suggest?
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_____________________________________________________________________ c. How many references are there to Ozymandias himself in these lines?
What does this suggest ?
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_____________________________________________________________________ d. ‘Mighty’ is a noun in line 11. Who does it refer to?
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_____________________________________________________________________ e. Using punctuation, how has Shelley created the superior status of
Ozymandias? Note and explain two examples.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 6
 Describe the grammar of this sentence: ‘Nothing beside remains.’ What is its effect ? Think about the contrast with the previous lines.
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
Whose work has lasted -
Ozymandias’ or the sculptor’s? What do you think Shelley is suggesting ?
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 7
 Label the rhyme scheme.
 Does the rhyme scheme follow the conventions of a Petrarchan sonnet?
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 What is the symbolism of replacing old rhymes with new ones?
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 What is the effect of the rhythm in the poem’s last line?
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 8
y
tchy
oes
mell
oads
 Complete the table below with what you consider to be the most important quotes and poetic devices within each category.
m
i
t one
S
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 9
- AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects
 Use the Venn diagram to find the differences and similarities between the two poems.
 Compare the characters in ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘My Last Duchess’.
 Compare the ways that voice is created in ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘My Last
Duchess’.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 10
- AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects
 Use the Venn diagram to find the differences and similarities between the two poems.
 Compare the ways that character and voice is created in ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘Medusa’.
 Compare the presentation of power in ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘Medusa’.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 11
 Using MITSL as a guide, create an essay plan or spider diagram for your essay question. You must include 3 - 5 points of comparison. Number each point in the order you would write about them in your exam. When you write your essay, remember to analyse structural and poetic devices for their effect and meaning . Don’t just list.
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 12
10
5
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.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
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AQA GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE - POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE 13
Written by Chantel Mathias and Amanda Fiegel
Introduction and copy by Karen Bishop
Audio file scripts and recordings written by Barrie McDermid - www.podcastrevision.co.uk
Interactive resources and design by David Riley - www.triptico.co.uk
Images:
 http://www.angelfire.com/wi/egypt/phar.html
 web.ukonline.co.uk
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this collection. If notified, we will be pleased to rectify any errors / omissions.
Copyright © 2010 TES English www.tes.co.uk