Tissue Flashcards
poet
Imtiaz Dharker
context
sees increasing materialism, born in Pakistan but grew in Scotland
what does every stanza mention
tissue paper
main idea and reason for it
humans do not have right attitude to life, we see it as permanent and an opportunity to gain power. May be critical because her husband had cancer for 11 years before dying, showing howlife is fragile and temporary
“maps too”
short singgle declerative sentence, creates blunt tone. Maps can be folded and controlled, they attemopt to manage wildness, political division not natural.
borderlines, the marks that rivers make,roads, railtracks, mountainfolds.
asyndeting listing, what maps are created upon. The idea of controlling(in maps) juxtaposes the river and its flow, which is natural, therefore this attempt is arrogant from human, nature is implying that we should be unite and use objects and rivers to differentiate us.
might fly our lives like paper kites
full stops suggests end of first stage of poem. Simile critices the value that humans give to money, and it is an extended metaphor for human lives. the enjambant the precedes this recall the “flying” of kites that signifies freedom in the sky far away from us, and yet it could be argued that we pull strings of a kite and therefore we really try to control everything.
structure
each stanza is made up of quatrains to show how resisitive and controlling human power can be. however final stanza made up of a single line to isolate its meaning. breaking free from rigid and traditionalist structure implying that there is a need to break free from human control
free verse
undermines and contrast rigid stanza, gives hope, even in restrictive society freedom can be found.
effect of enjambant
unifies lines demonstrating his belief that humans should be united. it might be showing that in reality humanity isn’t in control of everthing and the poem mocks those who believe they are
“koran”
reference to religious text to demonstrate how its power doesn’t come from the physical form it has but from how it influences peples lives
“lets the light shine through”
“lsun shines throuh”
“transparant” “luminous” “thinned to be transparent”
semantic field of transparacy and light throughout. this is used as a symbolf of truth, enlightment and paradise (idea present in both religions+link to Dharker upbringings). this conveys how world should be viewed. it has religion ties. poem aims to be source of enlightement to the reader f new way of livin g with less focus on materialism.
buildings “fall away on sigh”
this metaphor suggests that buildings should adapt and change easily. they’re symbol of permanamce that should be abolished. Society should’t be static but alwus changing, materialism stops this
turned transparent
harsh alliterative consonants show how society should be more tranparent.
“capitals and monoliths” “borderlines” “mountainfolds” “credid card”
symbolism used to show human power and how it tries to divide people
