Tissue

Question 1

Paper that lets the light

Answer 1

• Enjambment, creates on- going monologue tone.

- The paper is so thin, suggesting the fragility of human power.

Question 2

Who wrote the poem?

Answer 2

Imtiaz Dharker

Question 3

What’s the poem about?

Answer 3

It is a critique of human power and is meant to represent the fragility of human power and the strength of natures power.

Question 4

shine through, this

Answer 4

Symbolic, suggest hope, positive tone.

Question 5

Paper thinned by age or touching,

Answer 5

• Tactile, language, suggests a very familiar concept.

- Holds thoughts, but words fade over time.

Question 6

the back of the Koran, where a hand

Answer 6

• Koran, symbolic of culture and religion and also emphasising a major conflict in modern society and the perceived war on Islam.
• Juxtaposes to something done on machine, continues tactile.

Question 7

has written in the names and histories,

Answer 7

• Emphasis on ‘history’ as central to the theme, emphasis that this has been handed down.
• The power of paper to hold the record of human life. More powerful than the life its got information about as it’s still here long after that life has passed.

Question 8

died where and how, on which sepia date,

Answer 8

• Sepia meaning faded or yellowed with age. Suggestion of handed down.
• Sepia is a reddish brown pigment or chemical used to preserve photos.

Question 9

pages smoothed and stroked and turned

Answer 9

• Tactile verbs suggest this is not so much a religious book but a treasured heirloom and connection to family.
• Sibbilance
• On going process

Question 10

feel their drift, see how easily

Answer 10

Metaphor a paper structure would drift, but also ‘drift’ as in purpose, what they stand for. What they are for.

Question 11

they fall away on a sigh, a shift

Answer 11

• Transient verbs, reflect movement and change. Personified with ‘sigh’. Suggests it is a good thing that they are could be changeable. They adjust ‘with the wind’ winds of change.
• change in opinion and the way society is run

Question 12

that rivers make, roads,

Answer 12

• Lists the features of a map and mans need for control, however the poem undermines this idea of creating divides due to the enjambment used.
• Listing, encompasses the man and nature made aspects of the world and how the ‘sun shines’ representing hope and how transparent these things become rather than the permanent object we see them to be.

Question 13

TISSUE

Answer 13

Metaphor/Double meaning Tissue both as paper but also living tissue and skin.

Question 14

Fine slips from grocery shops

Answer 14

• Metaphor the familiar and everyday image of groceries represent larger scale socio economics. Our reliance on money and material wealth.
• Money dominates our life, but we don’t take it with us when we move on.

Question 15

might fly our lives like paper kites.

Answer 15

Flying Kites connotes a childlike innocence and ease. Suggesting perhaps that if we changed our approach to material ownership we would regain that childhood peace of mind.

Question 16

An architect could use all this,

Answer 16

Symbolic not just of someone who designs buildings but also anyone who makes anything. Metaphor for us all.

Question 17

place layer over layer, luminous

Answer 17

Enjambment, and semantics of written script listed here gives a tone of excitement and exploration.

Question 18

or block, but let the daylight break

Answer 18

• Pathetic fallacy, gives the hopeful aspect to the message of the poem through the reuse of light and shining.
• Nature is more powerful.

Question 19

through the shapes that pride can make,

Answer 19

Personify, pride given a form, suggestion that we, or society as a whole is this ‘pride’.

Question 20

find a way to trace a grand design

Answer 20

• Biblical reference, suggestive of the bigger picture and a sense of spiritual fulfilment. Suggests that we could be building things that improve our life, not hold us back.
• Gos has a plan for us

Question 21

with living tissue, raise a structure

Answer 21

Metaphor, for people or society.

Question 22

never meant to last,

Answer 22

• Ominous, can be an allusion to the horrors of war and terrorism. 9/11, Berlin wall?
• The fragility of human life.

Question 23

and thinned to be transparent,

Answer 23

Repetition from stanza 3, reminding us of the tactile intimacy of the book but now on a larger scale.

Question 24

turned into your skin.

Answer 24

Direct address, suggesting that instead of being at conflict with the world around us we create a sense of ownership and shared identity.

Question 25

Explain some of the context behind the poem…

Answer 25

Imtiaz Dharker is a poet and film maker, she has Pakistani origins and was raised in Glasgow. A great number of her poems look at issues such as religion, terrorism and global politics/identity. As a result her work can be difficult to grasp.
The poem is written from the point of view of someone today looking out at the conflict and troubles of the modern world; destruction, war and politics, money and wealth as well as issues like terrorism and identity. The poem remarks how nothing is meant to last, that it would be better not to hold too tightly to that and instead we should be willing to let go and pass things on in their time to be remade.
In short, that the world would be better if it shared more qualities with ‘tissue’.

Question 26

How does this poem link to the idea of power and conflict?

Answer 26

The poem looks at conflict in terms of destruction and politics particularly, it hints that we make our own conflict by holding on too tight to power and control and actually the need to relax and remember we are all human.

Question 27

Why are these items in the poem…

Koran, Buildings, Maps and Grocery slips

Answer 27

These objects are symbols of wider issues in the world, notably religion, structures of power like the twin towers but also the major cities and landmarks of various nations, maps represent borders of countries and the divides in politics and culture while grocery slips could represent the influence of money and wealth on society, for better or worse. The poet wonders what would the world be like if these things were more like the tissue.

Question 28

Talk about the poems structure…

Answer 28

The poem is written as an on-going monologue with some internal rhyme through the poem (though with
no real pattern to it). It uses enjambment to create a very human and calm tone. The poem starts looking at the joy of simple things like well used paper and wonders what the world would be like if it had the same qualities. The final part of the poem is both hopeful and a warning. Against pride but in favour of growth and acceptance.

Question 29

Key points…

Answer 29

• The poet explores the characteristics of tissue and applies it to a world at conflict with the people who have made it.
• The poet addresses some of the larger issues; greed, pride etc and how we have built our world around them, at odds with our own existence.
• The poem is a parable in nature as it suggests there is a spiritual fulfilment in passing on ownership and letting things pass when they have filled their purpose.

Question 30

Themes…

Answer 30

Power of Humans
Power of Nature
Identity

Question 31

Key quotes…

Answer 31

"paper"
"maps too"
"fly our lives"
"turned into your skin"
"daylight brake"

Question 32

transparent with attention.

Answer 32

• looked at so much it has become transparent- suggests it is really important
• weak
• see through- honesty- we need to be honest with ourselves

Question 33

Paper is an extended metaphor for what?

Answer 33

Human life

Question 34

How does this link to storm on the island?

Answer 34

The fragility of man vs nature.