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English Literature > Tissue > Flashcards

Tissue Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

What is tissue paper used as in the poem?

A

An extended metaphor for life.

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2
Q

What are examples of real life references of lasting uses for paper Dharker uses in the poem?

A

Maps, receipts and architect drawings.

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3
Q

What aspects of life are brought up in the poem through paper references?

A

Journeys (maps), money (receipts) and home (architect drawings).

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4
Q

What is the purpose of using life aspects with their paper references in the poem?

A

It demonstrates how important but also fragile paper is.

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5
Q

What may the poet be suggesting by the idea of a building being made from paper to human skin?

A

The significance of human life will outlast the records we make of it on paper on in buildings.

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6
Q

In the final stages of the poem, what also is there a sense of?

A

The fragility of human life and the fact that not everything can last.

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7
Q

What themes are explored in the poem?

A

Power, instability and human essence.

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8
Q

How is the theme of POWER shown in the poem?

A

The poem refers to the power of paper to change things and to record our memories

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9
Q

How is the theme of INSTABILITY shown in the poem?

A

The speaker suggests that paper (used as a metaphor for buildings) is at the mercy of great forces, such as the weather.

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10
Q

How is the theme of HUMAN ESSENCE shown in the poem?

A

The poem compares the significance and fragility of paper documents to the fleeting nature of building structures.

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11
Q

What is evidence of the theme of POWER in the poem?

A

‘this/ is what could alter things.’

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12
Q

What is evidence of the theme of INSTABILITY in the poem?

A

‘might fly our lives like paper kites.’

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13
Q

What is evidence of the theme of HUMAN ESSENCE in the poem?

A

‘how easily/ they fall away on a sigh,’

‘turned into your skin’

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14
Q

What is an analysis of the theme of POWER in the poem using the quotation ‘this/ is what could alter things.’?

A

Even the most delicate kinds of paper can record the most important details - of family life, national borders or financial transactions.

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15
Q

What is an analysis of the theme of INSTABILITY in the poem using the quotation ‘might fly our lives like paper kites’?

A

The simile (a comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to create a vivid image) suggests that our lives are not always in our control, but more like kites being blown by the wind.

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16
Q

What is an analysis of the theme of HUMAN ESSENCE in the poem using the quotation ‘how easily/ they fall away on a sigh,’ and ‘turned into your skin.’?

A

The essence of human beings can outlast even things that seem permanent but have collapsed, like large buildings.

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17
Q

How does the poet make the connection between paper and human life?

A

She uses examples of important aspects of life, such as buildings, money and food.

She refers to paper being ‘thinned by age’ and in the end directly compares it to skin. The effect of this connection is to highlight the fragility and delicacy of life.

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18
Q

What are two interpretations for the line ‘Paper that lets the light/ shine through, this/ is what could alter things’?

A

The light that shines through the paper represents God.

The thin paper represents old age.

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19
Q

What are two interpretations for the line ‘find a way to trace a grand design/ with living tissue, raise a structure/ never meant to last’?

A

The speaker says that human life is both a wonderful construction and fleeting.

The poet refers to the religious idea that man is made in the image of God.

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20
Q

What is the poem mainly constructed in?

A

Unrhymed, irregular quatrains

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21
Q

What could the FORM of the poem represent?

A

This form can be seen to represent the irregularity of life and the flimsy nature of the tissue paper the poem refers to.

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22
Q

How many stanzas does the poem consist of?

A

Ten

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23
Q

True or false?

Each stanza in the poem consists of four lines.

A

False.

All stanzas consist of four lines APART from the last stanza, which is a single line long.

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24
Q

What is the effect of the last stanza only being one line long?

A

It draws our attention.

Separating out this line emphasises the connection between paper and skin, showing the significance of human life.

25
Q

What could the lack or regular rhyme and rhythm be mirroring in the poem?

A

The fluttering of tissue paper.

26
Q

What is the effect of enjambment in the poem?

A

It adds to the flowing, delicate nature - both of paper and of the human lives the poet compares the tissue to.

27
Q

What does the poet use to emphasise the delicacy of paper?

A

Adjectives

28
Q

What adjectives are used to emphasise the delicacy of paper?

A

‘fine’ ‘thin’ ‘transparent’

29
Q

What adjectives/phrases are used to emphasises the effect of light?

A

‘luminous’ ‘daylight’ ‘sun shines through’

30
Q

What poem could you compare TISSUE to?

A

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

31
Q

What do both TISSUE and OZYMANDIAS deal with?

A

The transient aspects of human life

32
Q

What do both TISSUE and OZYMANDIAS use?

A

Extended metaphors

33
Q

What do both TISSUE and OZYMANDIAS use in terms of description?

A

Concrete images

34
Q

Where was Dharker born, and where did she then grow up?

A

She was born in Pakistan and grew up in Scotland.

35
Q

What themes does Dharker often deal with in her poems?

A

Identity, the role of women in contemporary society and the search for meaning.

36
Q

What is the purpose of the line “paper smoothed and stroked and thinned to be transparent”?

A

Emphasises the idea that paper is fragile

37
Q

What is an example of RELIGION and POWER in the poem?

A

“the back of the Koran, where a hand / has written in the names and histories, / who was born to whom, / the height and weight, who / died where and how, on which sepia date.”

This line emphasises the power of paper in recording history.

38
Q

What quotation gives an image of touch?

A

“pages smoothed and stroked”

“paper smoothed and stroked”

39
Q

What is the effect on images of touch in the poem?

A

The language is gentle and tactile, reflecting the respect shown towards books, particularly religious ones.

40
Q

What is one way that Dharker shows the power of nature? Give examples.

A

She uses images of nature and man.
“Maps too. The sun shines through / their borderlines”.
“The daylight shines through capitals and monoliths”.

41
Q

“The daylight shines through capitals and monoliths”.

What is highlighted in this quotation?

A

How nature will always be more potent (powerful) than human creations.
Natural Imagery is contrasted with description of man-made structures.

42
Q

What are “capitals and monoliths” a symbol of?

A

Government and Human Power

43
Q

How is Dharker able to show how temporary and short-lasting human structures are? (Quotation & Explanation)

A

“If buildings were paper, I might / feel their drift, see how easily / they fall away on a sigh, a shift / in the direction of the wind.”

The poet invites us to see how temporary and ephemeral (short-lasting) human structures are through asking us to imagine they were made of paper.

44
Q

What could be a reference to conflict in the poem? (Quotation & Explanation)

A

“Maps too. The sun shines through / their borderlines”.

  • “Maps” and “borderlines” reference conflict, as conflict often occurs over land/territory disputes.
45
Q

What is contrasted in this quotation?

“Maps too. The sun shines through / their borderlines”.

A

There is a contrast between “maps” - man’s attempt to make sense of nature - and the far more permanent, natural power of the “sun”.

46
Q

Define Monolith:

A

a large single upright block of stone, especially one shaped into or serving as a pillar or monument.

47
Q

Give an example of light imagery in the poem:

A

“Paper that lets the light / shine through, this / is what could alter things.”

48
Q

In the quotation:
“Paper that lets the light / shine through, this / is what could alter things.”
What could light be a metaphor for? What would this be a comment on?

A

“Light” could be a metaphor for God.

If so, this could be read as a comment on the power of religion to change things.

49
Q

What does this simile suggest?

“what was paid by credit card / might fly our lives like paper kites”.

A

This simile could suggest how humans are dominated and controlled by money.

50
Q

What does this simile suggest about CONFLICT?

“what was paid by credit card / might fly our lives like paper kites”.

A

The poet could be suggesting that humans have caused conflict by assigning significance to such things.

51
Q

What is the list in the poem?

A

“the marks / that rivers make, roads, / railtracks, mountainfolds”.

52
Q

What does the list in the poem highlight?

A

This list highlights the idea that man is determined to control, dominate and make sense of nature.

53
Q

What quotes show human’s greed for control?

A

“the marks / that rivers make, roads, / railtracks, mountainfolds”

“what was paid by credit card / might fly our lives like paper kites”

54
Q

What could the poem’s lack of a rigid form reflect?

A

The poet’s own desire for and interest in freedom.

55
Q

What techniques does Dharker use to reflect freedom in her structuring?

A

Enjambment

Free Verse

56
Q

What are two things the use of enjambment in the poem could suggest?

A 
The enjambment (sentences flowing over the end of lines) between stanzas could reflect the poet’s desire for freedom.
Or, it could reflect the lack of control humans have compared to nature.
57
Q

Why could the poem be written in free verse?

A

To represent human’s inability to control nature or even their own lives.

58
Q

What poems could you compare Tissue to on the theme of nature vs human power?

A

Ozymandias
Exposure
The Prelude
Storm on the Island

English Literature (15 decks)

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