
What is the message of the poem Tissue paper?
It is about the fragility and power of humanity, which is used as an extended metaphor throughout the poem. The speaker, in the poem, is the first and second person narrator who uses tissue paper as an extended metaphor for life. She considers how a paper can ‘alter things’ and refers to the soft thin paper of religion, particularly the Qur’an.
What is the poem Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker about?
Get LitCharts A + "Tissue" was written by Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker and published in her 2006 collection, The Terrorist at My Table. The poem is an impressionistic meditation about paper, focusing on the way that it represents both human fragility and power.
What is the meaning of tissue by William Blake?
“Tissue” is about human power and fragility. The “Tissue” referred to in the title is, at the beginning at least, a reference to paper. The poem begins as a kind of hymn of praise to this material, before imagining what a human world made out of paper would be like.
What does the poet mean by ‘living tissue’?
The poet links the idea of a building being made from paper to human skin, using the words ‘living tissue’ and then ‘your skin’. This is quite a complex idea, and the meaning is open to interpretation. She may be suggesting that the significance of human life will outlast the records we make of it on paper or in buildings.

What is the poem Tissue?
"Tissue" was written by Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker and published in her 2006 collection, The Terrorist at My Table. The poem is an impressionistic meditation about paper, focusing on the way that it represents both human fragility and power.
What is the poet's message in Tissue?
A reading of 'Tissue' by the poet, Imtiaz Dharker. The speaker in this poem uses tissue paper as an extended metaphor for life. She considers how paper can 'alter things' and refers to the soft thin paper of religious books, in particular the Qur'an.
What has Imtiaz Dharker written?
PublicationsPurdah (Oxford University Press, India, 1989)Postcards from God (including Purdah) (Bloodaxe Books, 1997, ISBN 1-85224-407-0)I Speak for the Devil (Bloodaxe Books, 2001, ISBN 978-1852245696; Penguin Books India, 2003)More items...
Is Tissue written in free verse?
Stanza by Stanza Analysis 'Tissue' is a free verse poem of 10 stanzas, 9 of which are quatrains with the last being a single line.
What poem can you compare Tissue to?
'Tissue' by Imtiaz Dharker is compared with 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning on the theme of power. Both poems are part of the AQA poetry anthology in the Power and Conflict section.
Is Tissue a dramatic monologue?
Tissue takes the form of an internal monologue, like a stream of consciousness, with the writer using vivid descriptive language and switching quickly between focuses, much like a thought process – vivid and sudden.
What is the right word about?
The Right Word is a very aptly named poem as it is ostensibly about the poet trying to find the truest word in order to describe the person who is at their door.
Who is the mother of modern Indian English poetry?
Kamala DasKamala Das – The Mother Of Modern Indian English Poetry | #IndianWomenInHistory. Kamala Das was a Malayali and English writer, who wrote with unsettling honesty on love, sexuality, menstruation – a foremost feminist voice. Kamala Das was one of the most prominent feminist voices in the postcolonial era.
What is Imtiaz Dharker famous for?
Imtiaz Dharker. Dharker is a poet, artist and video film-maker. She was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014. She received the Cholmondeley Award and an Honorary Doctorate from SOAS, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
How is the theme of power presented in Tissue?
Power: this poem refers to the power of paper to change things and to record our memories. '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 does Tissue say about power?
Both 'Tissue' and 'Ozymandias' explore the idea that human power is temporary, and it is nature that has true power. However, in 'Tissue', Dharker uses tissue as a metaphor for the fragility of man's power whereas Shelley mocks the Egyptian pharaoh Ozymandias' attempt at power.
How is the theme of identity presented in Tissue?
However, Tissue shows the conflict of identity in the way humanity and paper are inter-twined, how identity seems to be constantly questioned and in the way the poem leaves a question in the mind of the reader about whether we record things on paper to prove our existence or whether being here in life is enough.
How is the theme of identity presented in Tissue?
However, Tissue shows the conflict of identity in the way humanity and paper are inter-twined, how identity seems to be constantly questioned and in the way the poem leaves a question in the mind of the reader about whether we record things on paper to prove our existence or whether being here in life is enough.
What is the message of bayonet charge?
What is it about? Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes describes the few desperate moments of a soldier's charge against a defended position, dramatising the feelings of fear, dislocation and confusion.
How does the poet present power in Tissue?
The poem is an extended metaphor, showing that human power is fragile, like tissue. Our lives are controlled by paperанаreligious texts, maps, receiptsанаbut their power is fragile compared to nature. "daylight break.. through the shapes that pride can make".
What is the structure of Tissue?
Tissue is a group of cells that have similar structure and that function together as a unit. Primary types of body tissues include epithelial, connective, muscular, and nervous tissues. Epithelial tissues form the covering of all body surfaces, line body cavities and hollow organs, and are the major tissue in glands.
Who wrote the poem "Tissue"?
Ask a question. "Tissue" was written by Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker and published in her 2006 collection, The Terrorist at My Table. The poem is an impressionistic meditation about paper, focusing on the way that it represents both human fragility and power. The poem shifts its focus throughout, first looking at a Koran ...
Where does Asyndeton appear in the poem?
Where asyndeton appears in the poem: Lines 5-11: “well-used books, / 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, / pages smoothed”.
What does the poem tissue talk about?
The poem, ‘Tissue’ , by Imtiaz Dharker, not only describes the power of a paper, and its various usages, but it also talks about the fragility and power of humanity. The poet also states how a paper can ‘alter things’ and relates its soft skin to the religious aspect, with the reference of the Qur’an.
How many stanzas are there in the poem "Tissue"?
This type of form is generally used to represent the irregularity of life and flimsy nature of the tissue paper the poem talks about. There are ten stanzas in the poem.
What is tissue paper?
The speaker, in the poem, is the first and second person narrator who uses tissue paper as an extended metaphor for life.
What does the poem "Pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention" mean?
“Pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention,’ is an 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. By “turned transparent with attention”, the speaker brings into light the fragility of human life and tells us how people can change. The meaning of ‘sepia date’ relates to the date, which gives the reference of one’s birth and death certificate.
What does enjambment mean in a poem?
The poem has the use of enjambment, running meaning between lines across stanza breaks. This contributes to the flowing delicate nature – both of paper and of the human lives the poet compares the tissue to.
What is the speaker's metaphor in the poem?
The speaker, in the poem, is the first and second person narrator who uses tissue paper as an extended metaphor for life. She considers how a paper can ‘alter things’ and refers to the soft thin paper of religion, particularly the Qur’an. There are also real-life references to other lasting uses we have for paper in our lives, for example; maps, ...
What does Stanza 2 mean?
Stanza Two. the kind you find in well-used books, (…) who was born to whom, The poet further says that the paper may grow older, but it does not lose its importance. No matter what religious books you follow or worship, you cannot imagine without papers.
What does the speaker use tissue for in this poem?
The speaker in this poem uses tissue as an extended metaphor for life; tissue in all its meanings — paper, human skin and organs, plans for our future written on paper, maps… Read More
What is the core image of the poem?
The core image is of paper as an extended metaphor for life and how we record important things. She uses poetic devices like assonant rhyme — for example ‘line’ in stanza seven and ‘design’ in stanza eight — and consonant rhyme in stanzas seven and eight where ‘brick’ and break' echo each other.
What does the poem "Your Skin" mean?
The poet links the idea of a building being made from paper to human skin, using the words ‘living tissue’ and then ‘your skin’. This is quite a complex idea, and the meaning is open to interpretation.
What does "paper that lets the light" mean?
Paper that lets the light. shine through, this. is what could alter things. Paper thinned by age or touching, the kind you find in well-used books, 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.
What does the speaker in the poem use tissue paper for?
The speaker in this poem uses tissue paper as an extended metaphor for life. She considers how paper can 'alter things' and refers to the soft thin paper of religious books, in particular the Qur'an. There are also real life references to other lasting uses we have for paper in our lives such as maps, receipts and architect drawings.
What does the poem "Your Skin" mean?
In the final stages of the poem, the poet links the idea of a building being made from paper to human skin, using the words 'living tissue' and then 'your skin'. This is quite a complex idea, and the meaning is open to interpretation. She may be suggesting that the significance of human life will outlast the records we make of it on paper or in buildings. There is also a sense of the fragility of human life, and the fact that not everything can last.