Tissue Flashcards
what is the poem about?
importance of paper of recording our history, but then that its fragile
‘paper’
begins the first two sentences, gets the readers attention
‘light shine through’ ‘could alter things’
light allows things to be seen rather than hidden, may hint to what needs to be changed
‘written in the names and histories, who was born to whom’
paper is used to record family history - whole lives can be summed up by marks on paper
‘attention’
the last word before the first full stop emphasises the importance of what’s come before
‘if buildings were paper’
shift in tone, speaker suggests that if buildings were made out of paper, people would notice that they are only temporary
‘drift’ ‘shift’
rhyme plays on the idea of movement - appear in different places on the line as if they’ve been blown by the wind
‘maps too’
short blunt sentence whi9ch may reflect the fixed nature of maps and borders - they create division rather then freedom
‘might fly our lives like paper kites’
simile hints at how our lives can be controlled by money
‘layer over layer, luminous script over numbers over line’
the work of the poet mirrors the work of the architect, the poet builds layers of words and meanings, where an architect designs physical structures
‘the shape that pride can make’
sounds like a criticism of human pride- we create big, imposing buildings that are ultimately unimportant
‘a grand design with living tissue’
shift from paper to humans, a construction more complex and more ‘grand’ than any building
‘turned into your skin’
references to creation in the previous two stanzas suggests that this could be addressed to a child
what are the themes in the poem?
power of humans, identity
power of humans in ‘tissue’?
paper is used to symbolise human power but it is fragile and easily destroyed
