Transcript The Tempest - Wirral Learning Grid

The Tempest
Lesson 1
Romance (a description in literature for a certain style of
writing)
Wordbank -
A royal child is lost and rediscovered
Sea journeys change men’s lives
Scenes occur in different countries - most of
them remote
Main characters struggle against adversity
and are rewarded in the end
Characters thought dead are miraculously
resurrected
Final reconciliation is achieved through the
agency of young people
Story interlaced with strange monsters,
savage beasts and supernatural apparitions
Central character is a magician who finally
renounces his magic and returns to civic life.
Band 5:
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Clear focus on the question and use of
relevant quotations from both extracts.
Clear understanding of how characters
use language in both extracts.
Creates an argument with well-chosen
reference to the text to justify
comments.
Band 6:
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Coherent analysis of the text in relation to the
question.
Appreciation of the effects of features of
language in both extracts.
Creates a well-developed argument with
comments and precisely selected references to
the text integrated appropriately.
Both bands require:
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integrated quotations
ongoing links to both extracts
sentences that make a point, embed a
quotation and explore implications relevant to
the question in detail
creation of an argument - a chain of linked
points that respond to the question with a point
of view that might be maintained or
reconsidered if appropriate.
OZYMANDIAS – 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.’
KUBLA KHAN – Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
In these poems, how do the poets use language to create a
mysterious atmosphere?
Both poems contain elements of mystery, drawing the reader in to
a different world. The settings are sustained with specific choice of
words and use of poetic techniques. Shelley and Coleridge are taking
their readers on a journey to escape the reality of the world around
them and to explore the possibilities of travel that were opening up with
social and political developments.
In the first extract, Shelley introduces us to a “traveller” from an
“antique land” who speaks of the “desert” and a “king of kings”. The
“colossal wreck” and alliterative “boundless and bare” create a sense of
immensity and emptiness. The objects in the description are unfamiliar
and create mystery in the lack of detail.
Continued…
In the second extract, Coleridge introduces us to the character of
“Kubla Khan” in a land called “Xanado” containing a river called “Alph”.
Again, the reader is taken into another world with unfamiliar images and
words. The places and names are mysterious and the alliterative
“sunless sea” is the familiar made strange. The assonance used in the
description of “twice five miles of fertile ground”, with the long ‘i’ sound
repeated is enticing, adding a feeling of excitement and wonder. We, as
the readers, are taken on a journey with a surprise, created by inventive
use of language, around every corner.
As well as creating a mysterious atmosphere, the poets also create
a sense of fear and threat, suggesting that the mysterious journey
might be fraught with dangers. Shelley gives us the great Ozymandias
who is still able to say “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair”
whilst Coleridge talks of a “savage place” with a “woman wailing for her
lover”. The images draw us into a world that uses the past to teach us
about the future.
The reading skills that are assessed in the
Shakespeare Paper are:
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your ability to understand a question and select
relevant material to suit your answer to it
your appreciation of how the language of the
text informs your analysis of the question
your ability to construct an appropriate
argument and develop your points in a coherent
way
your understanding of character, theme,
language or performance in relation to the
extract
The Shakespeare Paper does not assess:
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your understanding of the whole play or
all of the extracts
your version of what happens
quantity of quotations
your opinion of the play
Homework:
Use the 2 extracts from the opening of the play to
respond to the question:
How do these extracts draw the reader into a
mysterious world?