Ozymandias - Mixed Practice | Super Survey Maker

Prep Phase

Read the following poem carefully.

On a scale of 1-10, how well did you understand this poem? (1 = not well; 10 = very well)

Take a moment to identify the words and phrases that stuck out or resonated with you. Write them down below:

Why do you think these words and phrases stick out to you?

What feelings or emotions were evoked within you after reading this poem?

What confused you about this poem, if anything? Why were these things confusing?

Objective Questioning:

The poet met a traveller on the road. Where did the poet say this traveller from?

Egypt

A far away land

An antique land

The desert

What did the traveller say he saw?

Ruins in the desert

The skeletal remains of a person

Two mummies, like stone in the sand

All of the Above

Based on the poem, we can infer that "trunkless" legs are:

Legs on an elephant

legs without a body

Legs that have been eroded by the elements

Legs that are insignificant

Who did the "trunkless" legs belong to?

The traveller

The poet

An ancient king

An ancient sculptor

We can infer that Ozymandias was:

Kind and generous

A courageous warrior

Wise, but very old

Cruel and powerful

How did you choose the answer to the previous questions?

What is the ironic (or unexpected) about this poem?

Ozymandias thought he would be eternally powerful with his statue, yet the only lasting pieces of his legacy are in ruins.

The traveller turns out to be the "king of kings", something nobody saw coming.

The sculptor made a mistake when creating the statue, and that is why it has not lasted through time.

The expression of the "shattered visage" is actually comical since it is a frown upside down.

How did you choose the answer to the previous questions?

What does the statue of Ozymandias stand for?

Powerless victims in the face of opression

Beauty and goodness

Tyranny and corrupt power

Wealth and riches

Which line(s) from the poem best supports the answer above?

"Half sunk a shattered visage lies"

"a...sneer of cold command"

"Round the decay...The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair"

What best describes the poem's main idea?

Power, good or evil, are eventually defeated and reduced to nothing

All tyrants and evil corrupt are eventually defeated and reduced to nothing

Good monarchs will always triumph over evil tyrants

Only time and erosion will destroy evil monarchs

How did you choose the answer to the previous questions?

What best describes the tone of speaker in this poem?

Vengeful

Bitter

Solemn

Irritated

Which summary best suits the poem?

The speaker recalls meeting a traveler, who told him a story about the ruins of a statue in the desert of his native country. Two vast legs of stone stand without a body, and near them a massive, crumbling stone head lies in the sand. The traveler told the speaker that on the pedestal of the statue appear the words, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” This statue is a symbol of man’s arrogance, and how tyrannical leaders all succumb to death and decay, no matter their power.

The speaker recalls meeting a traveler, who told him a story about the ruins of a statue in the desert of his native country. Two vast legs of stone stand without a body, and near them a massive, crumbling stone head lies in the sand. The traveler told the speaker that on the pedestal of the statue appear the words, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” But around the decaying ruin of the statue, nothing remains. There is no kingdom, just sand.

Which of the following is NOT a good example of elaboration:

I envisioned ancient Mayan ruins as I read about this poem. Just like the remains of Ozymandias, the ancient Mayans were a powerful civilization that succumbed to the effects of time. If they had any tyrannical leaders, they were not immune to death and decay. Like the sand in the poem overtaking the ruins, the jungle has covered up most of the Mayan civilization. Makes me wonder what our civilization will look like in a thousand years.

In the poem, the speaker talks about meeting a traveler from an ancient land. The traveller tells the poet of a statue that has been eaten away by the sand, and no longer stands tall and powerful as it once did. Some statues do last, however; like the ones in Petra or Rome. Perhaps only the statues of cruel people are destroyed by those who hated them.

Opinion Phase

What previous experience have you had with the main idea?

Which answers best respond to the following question: (You can select more than one)

->Do you believe the main idea was effectively communicated? Why or Why not.

Yes; this sonnet from 1817 is probably the poet’s most famous and most published poem. It is devoted to this message: the shattered remains of corrupt power will always be found in the dusts of time. This is a message everyone can support.

Yes; the telling of the story, and not the subject of the story itself, makes the poem more memorable. Framing the poem as a story told to the speaker by “a traveller from an antique land” enables the poet to add another level of obscurity to Ozymandias’s position with regard to the reader—rather than seeing the statue with our own eyes, so to speak, we hear about it from someone who heard about it from someone who has seen it. Thus the ancient king is rendered even less commanding.

Which answers best respond to the following question:

(You can select more than one) -> Do you agree with the main idea, why or why not?

No; I do believe that tyranny is always destroyed in time as opposed to rebellions. Rebellions often make things worse; take the Russian and French revolutions. Tyranny must be waited out, like a bad storm. It is useless to try and stop the corrupt.

No. Unfortunately, not all corrupt power is defeated. If we look across history, the continual struggle for power and tyranny repeats itself. Sure, one corrupt ruler might pass away, but another tyrant is always there to replace it. This is seen even in modern-day politics, where corrupt government officials remain in office, or are replaced by someone else corrupt.

Ozymandias - Mixed Practice

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