Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker Flashcards
The poem in a nutshell….
The speaker in this poem uses paper as a metaphor for life. She considers how paper can ‘alter things’ and refers to the soft thin paper of religious books, in particular the Muslim holy book, 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. Each of these items is connected to important aspects of life: journeys, money and home all show how paper maps out our lives. In the final stages of the poem, 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.
Context
Imtiaz Dharker (1954-) is a contemporary poet who was born in Pakistan and grew up in Scotland. She has written five collections of poetry and often deals with themes of identity, the role of women in contemporary society and the search for meaning.
In her other poems, Dharker has written about the way she values things which may seem to be trivial or
easily lost or destroyed. This poem is about the possible power of something as thin and fragile as paper.
All of the references to paper through the poem,
such as ‘fine slips’ and ‘luminous scripts’.
Paper acts as a metaphor for life and the way we live it. It shows how paper can be so fragile yet be enormously
powerful when it is used to convey information.
might fly our lives like paper kites’
The simile suggests that our lives are not always in our
control, but more like kites being blown by the wind.
Connotations include a lack of control, but could be seen as a happy or childlike image.
‘see how easily / they fall away on a sigh’
The enjambment throughout the poem could show how
time never stops and how it is impossible to properly keep track of things, with paper perhaps our best way of living on permanently. The fast pace could also create the effect of showing how difficult it is to keep track and organise our lives.
Aspects of Power or Conflict
What will last?
There is a sense of the fragility of human life and the fact that not everything can last. 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’. Sh
Aspects of Power or Conflict
Power
this poem refers to the power of paper to change things and to record our memories.
Aspects of Power or Conflict
Instability
the speaker suggests that paper (used as a metaphor for buildings) is at the mercy of greater forces, such as
the weather.
Poems that can be linked
Ozymandias
War Photographer
