Tissue Flashcards
Context of Tissue
Her poetry concentrates on identity and home which is significant given her ability to reconcile her conflicting identities between Wales, Imdia and London
Tissue: poem comes from 2006 ‘The terrorist at my table’ focuses on global politics and extremists (religion and terrorism).
Presents that humans don’t have a right to life, as we take it for granted as well as shows the tempoary nature of life
Language used 1-3 Tissue
‘Paper that lets the light/ shine through’ : metaphor for how God’s power shines through humans and how paper is opaque as Gods light is more powerful then humans
Chatty style ‘you’ : creates a direct connection between the reader and poem, makes the poetic themes more understandable. Informal tone gives a sense of familiarity allows people to engage with God.
Gentle vocab ‘smoothed’, ‘stroked’:extended metaphor that the poet again uses here. By this, she means that a paper is like a human skin that is ‘smoothed and stroked’ by the touch of another.
Language of fragility – eg ‘transparent’, ‘thinned by age’, ‘drift’, ‘fall away on a sigh’: delicate langauge adds to Godks nature and his power over humans
‘Born to whom, the height and weight’: forgetful humans can be unlike God who is all knowing and so to help us told his followers to note down records. Shows how powerful he is compared to us.
Language used 4-6 Tissue
Things shifting with wind:Shows how weak we are compared to God as things we create can be shifted by nature / God. We are not on his level
Internal rhyme scheme ‘shift’ and ‘drift: flow of the poem, helps the reader to understand how humans memories can ‘drift’.
Asydentic list:Obssession with dividing things up and categorising things seperating things but the light shines through the maps and makes the divisions between each area insignificant . Erases boundaries between people
Simile ‘fly our lives like paper kites:references money and the economy drawing our attention to the fact that our lives are governed by items which are as delicate. It is something that could be easily destroyed yet our whole lives operate around it.
Language used 7-9 Tissue
Metaphor of building: speaker moves from talking about an inanimate paper to ‘living tissue’. She says that life is much more intricate than any building, but also temporary’ yet family history is lasting. “Never meant to last” seems ominous
Metaphor for how human power and memories are constructural over a prolonged period of time
‘Daylight breaks through capitals and monoliths: This emphasises that light is central to life. The verb ‘breaks’ suggests the power of light over human constructions.
Personification of pride: ‘through the shapes that pride can make’ , / find a way to trace a grand design / with living tissue, raise a structure / never meant to last,”
Repetition of ‘smoothed and stroked’ and ‘transparent’: Repetition of the word ‘transparent’ emphasises the idea of skin thinning with age as we come to the end of our lives. The tissue can become transparent as it becomes more worn and old as it gets ‘smoothed and stroked’.
God’s power smoothed and stroked our souls/ hearts, making it more transparent so we can let his light shine through us
‘Paper that lets the light shine through’, ‘sun shines through their borderlines’ , ‘‘Day lights break through capitals and monoloths’- imagery of light (represents God’s power over all- omnipotent)
Formed in the poem Tissue
9 quatrains +1 single stanza: Quatrains in each represent a different aspect of the dominant theme, while one line stanzas serves as a concluding statement.
The quatrains are seen to be able however crumbles last line irregularity.
Free verse:Gives poem flexibility to express ideas and emotions, shows the free power that God has, makes the poem more impactful
Structure in the poem Tissue
Mutiple stanza enjambments: sense of fluidity between stanzas creates a deliberate rhythm to the poem. Continuity shows power of God
1st 3 stanzas:Sets the idea of importance of written religous texts and how they help shape humans. Points of the fragility of humans
1st line and last line:1st-Draws attention to paper which is thin and weak (human/paper) lets God’s light through
End- physical nature of human nature , reminds the reader we are not like God and aren’t on the same level. The ‘your’ creates a relationship with the reader (poem impactful)
Begining and end:clear sense of unity, and solidarity and confirms things about different powers between God and leaves a lasting impression on the reader
Similarities Tissue and 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 a symbol of division and limitation
• Both poets are critical of material wealth and inequality which is 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”.
Differences Tissue and London
• In Blake’s poem, the narrator seems to accept the cyclical nature of corruption, which is seen in the structure of the poem. In the final stanza, the “Marks of weakness” referred to in the first stanza are alluded to in the final line “blights with plagues”. Dharker however, offers a solution to the problem of power to not let money “fly our lives like paper kites”.
Name of poet tissue
Imtiaz Dharker
