Tissue Flashcards
‘The height and weight, who died where and how, on which sepia date, pages smoothed’
Asyndetic listing is used to emphasise the significance of the Koran on humanity.
‘Maps too’
This short, simple declarative sentence creates a blunt tone to the poem.
‘Roads, railtracks’
Alliteration of a harsh consonant highlights Dharker’s disdain towards these man-made structures.
‘Might fly our lives like paper kites’
This metaphor criticises the significance humanity places on money.
‘Let the daylight break through capitals and monoliths’
This metaphor demonstrates the overwhelming power of daylight - something people can’t control.
‘Living tissue’
There is a turning point here when it is revealed that the poem is in fact about living flesh.
‘Turned into your skin’
The final line is left separate to make it clear to the listener that they are meant to consider the meaning of the poem in relation to their life.
What impact does the opening have on the poem?
- The title could be referring to thin paper which is easy to destroy or a human tissue which ages and eventually die. Society can be viewed as a tissue as it’s made from a collection of cells and is intrinsically fragile but could become more like a tissue by becoming more flexible.
- ‘Paper that lets the light shine through’ is ironic as despite it being translucent, it is able to exert great influence, e.g. religious books (their religion could be the light which is shining through).
How does the form affect the poem?
It’s an allegory which has the hidden meaning of revealing the transience of life. This could cause the reader to let go of a materialistic life and instead focus on the people around them, and God. It ends with a direct address ‘your skin’ to cement this message in the readers’ minds.
How does structure affect the poem?
- The whole poem is written in quatrains, providing a consistent structure showing how restrictive human power and control can be. The final line is only a single line, showing it breaking free from the controlling structure and implies that there is a need to break free from the control of human power.
- The regularity of the fixed stanza length is undermined by the use of free verse and enjambment. These loose structural forms show that freedom can be found even within a restrictive institution. It also implies that even the most powerful presentations of power (buildings and governments) are underpinned by chaos and insignificance.
How does language affect the poem?
- It uses an extended metaphor, using tissue paper to liken surrounding objects to human life. ‘Maps too’ shows how a person can be like a map with many different countries and cultures contained within them and no borders. Whilst the Koran is paper, it’s also a collection of lives, the power it contains does not come from it being made of physical paper but from the influence it has on people’s lives.
- The symbol of light is a recurring theme throughout the poem which begins with ‘paper that lets the light shine through’. Light is a symbol of truth and enlightenment to show how the world should be viewed. This has religious ties as God is described in terms of light in both Islam and Christianity.
- Dharker explores what humans deem to be truly important by what they put on paper. Religious truths, buildings (compared to paper), borders, and money are all referenced.
Which poem should it be compared to?
London - human power is presented to be a source of oppression and suffering in London. Here, the citizens are shown to suffer in ‘mind-forged manacles’ whilst in tissue ‘borderlines’ act as division and limitation. Both poets are critical of material wealth and inequality, shown by the focus on ‘chartered’ land in London whilst in Tissue, Dharker shows how money is able to ‘fly our lives like paper kites’. However, in London, the narrator seems to accept the cyclical nature of corruption, as seen in the poem’s structure, whereas Dharker offers a solution to the problem of power to not let money ‘fly our lives like paper kites’.
