Tissue Flashcards
What is tissue paper used as in the poem?
An extended metaphor for life.
What are examples of real life references of lasting uses for paper Dharker uses in the poem?
Maps, receipts and architect drawings.
What aspects of life are brought up in the poem through paper references?
Journeys (maps), money (receipts) and home (architect drawings).
What is the purpose of using life aspects with their paper references in the poem?
It demonstrates how important but also fragile paper is.
What may the poet be suggesting by the idea of a building being made from paper to human skin?
The significance of human life will outlast the records we make of it on paper on in buildings.
In the final stages of the poem, what also is there a sense of?
The fragility of human life and the fact that not everything can last.
What themes are explored in the poem?
Power, instability and human essence.
How is the theme of POWER shown in the poem?
The poem refers to the power of paper to change things and to record our memories
How is the theme of INSTABILITY shown in the poem?
The speaker suggests that paper (used as a metaphor for buildings) is at the mercy of great forces, such as the weather.
How is the theme of HUMAN ESSENCE shown in the poem?
The poem compares the significance and fragility of paper documents to the fleeting nature of building structures.
What is evidence of the theme of POWER in the poem?
‘this/ is what could alter things.’
What is evidence of the theme of INSTABILITY in the poem?
‘might fly our lives like paper kites.’
What is evidence of the theme of HUMAN ESSENCE in the poem?
‘how easily/ they fall away on a sigh,’
‘turned into your skin’
What is an analysis of the theme of POWER in the poem using the quotation ‘this/ is what could alter things.’?
Even the most delicate kinds of paper can record the most important details - of family life, national borders or financial transactions.
What is an analysis of the theme of INSTABILITY in the poem using the quotation ‘might fly our lives like paper kites’?
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.
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.’?
The essence of human beings can outlast even things that seem permanent but have collapsed, like large buildings.
How does the poet make the connection between paper and human life?
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.
What are two interpretations for the line ‘Paper that lets the light/ shine through, this/ is what could alter things’?
The light that shines through the paper represents God.
The thin paper represents old age.
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’?
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.
What is the poem mainly constructed in?
Unrhymed, irregular quatrains
What could the FORM of the poem represent?
This form can be seen to represent the irregularity of life and the flimsy nature of the tissue paper the poem refers to.
How many stanzas does the poem consist of?
Ten
True or false?
Each stanza in the poem consists of four lines.
False.
All stanzas consist of four lines APART from the last stanza, which is a single line long.