English for Life Reader Grade 9 Home Language. Elaine Ridge

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      mangy – scruffy, suffering from an ugly skin disease

Post-reading
3.	The poem is set in a place where nothing is being cared for. What are the signs that:
a)	no one is doing any upkeep?
b)	the animals are neglected?
c)	the old man has no one to look after him?
4. a)	“Dying embers” usually describes a fire that is slowly going out. What does “dying embers of life” suggest about the old man’s physical state and feelings?
b)	Quote all the other words that emphasise the old man’s position.
5.	You have probably been told not to use ‘and’ more than once in a sentence. Suggest why the poet has chosen to use ‘and’ four times in this short poem.
6.	The title is “Forgotten people”, so why does the writer describe only one person?

Pre-reading
1.	A confession is usually an admission of wrongdoing or even slipping up so that one can be forgiven and have a fresh start. What do you think is necessary if such a confession is to work?
During reading
2.	As you read this “confession”, what are the signs that it is not really designed to admit a fault? What is the person doing if he is not confessing?

      Confession

      Chris van Wyk

      i would

      have brought

      you

      mulberries

      but

      they

      threatened

      to explode

      their mauve

      corpuscles

      all over

      my

      best shirt

      so

      i ate them

Post-reading
3.	How does the title, “Confession” heighten the humour of what the person actually does?
4.	The lines of the poem are short, breaking up the sentence into small fragments. What does this suggest about how the person is speaking?
5.	The speaker suggests that he ate the mulberries in self-defence.
a)	Quote words that are chosen to make the mulberries seem dangerous. Explain.
b)	What do you think was the real reason he ate the mulberries?
6.	Have you ever been in a situation when you have had to explain away something you have done. What happened? See if you can tell the story in a humorous way in about half a page.

Pre-reading
1.	Shelley the poet was also a revolutionary political activist in the early nineteenth century. He was implacably opposed to tyranny in any form. At the time, major archaeological finds had been made in Egypt and other countries of the near east. Shelley went to see the statue of the mighty Pharaoh Rameses II, also known as Ozymandias, in the British Museum. How would you expect someone of his political views to respond?
During reading
2.	Most of the poem is in the voice of the “traveller from an antique land”. He tells a dramatic story. Be alert to how you would read the poem aloud for the same dramatic effect.

      Ozymandias

      Percy Bysshe Shelley

      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.

      antique – ancient

      passions – inner feelings of this arrogant ruler

      pedestal – base on which the statue stands

      sneer – contemptuous expression

      stamped – expressively carved

      trunkless – without the main part of the body

      visage – image of a face carved in stone

Post-reading
3.	What would your response be to seeing “two vast and trunkless legs of stone” standing in the desert?
4.	The statue’s face is lying in fragments half sunk in the sand, but its features are clear enough to show what kind of person he was. What clues to his personality can you find in lines 4-8? Describe him using this evidence.
5.	Which people did Ozymandias intend the statue to impress and scare off? Quote the words from the text on the pedestal which make this plain.
6.	You have heard of global warming and the danger of good, fertile land becoming desert from drought. Ozymandias’s boasting message is “Look on my works”, but all we can see now is desert. What do you think this massive statue looked over when Ozymandias was at the height of his power?
7.	The last three lines suggest the emptiness of the scene. The ruins of the statue are a “colossal wreck” in the midst of it. “Colossal” means huge, but it brings to mind the awe-inspiring Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, built to celebrate a military victory. It was a massive statue, over 30 metres high, and stood with legs astride on two columns at the entrance to the harbour of the Greek island of Rhodes. All ships entering or leaving had to pass between its legs. It toppled in an earthquake more than 2200 years ago. How does this reference add to the poem?
8.	‘Time is the enemy’ runs the modern cliché. But it is a hard fact that time is not on the side of tyrants. However great they are, they will die. However powerful, their power will eventually be successfully challenged. Which word in the first line offers us the perspective of time on Ozymandias? How do you think it suggests we should see him?

Pre-reading
1.	Soap operas give the impression that love is based on irresistible physical attraction. But that attraction is short term.
a)	What do you think is most important about love?
b)	Do you think love can last forever? What makes you say so?
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