Tissue

• Overview - what makes Tissue complex

  • There is no simple / literal meaning to the poem 
  • Its an example of impressionistic poetry , where everything is filled with symbolic meaning (So it's hard to say what the poem means)
• Overview - Tissue can interpreted as a poem about power

  • By focusing on power , we can read Tissue as a critique of human power, highlighting its fragility and the true power of nature -
  • In the poem, paper is used to symbolize mankind, both being fragile and powerful at the same time - paper is a metaphor for human power

  
• Overview - Tissue can be interpreted as a poem about power

  By focusing on conflict, we can read Tissue as a commentary on what causes fundamentalism and terrorism on the world today

  
• Context : Who wrote 'Tissue'

  • Imtiaz Dharker wrote ‘Tissue’, and she is a poet, artist and filmmaker 
  • She was born in 1954 in Pakistan , but brought up in Scotland , and describes herself as a Scottish Pakistani Muslim Calvanist, adopted by India and Wales as well
  • The themes of her poetry include geographical displacement , communal conflict, and gender 
  • The poem comes from the collection “The Terrorist at my table” , which are poems about a world stricken by fundamentalism

  
• What does the title "Tissue" suggest

  • Tissue is a very thin paper but is also the material that makes up humans (human tissue) and both are referred to in the poem 
  • The 2 meanings give the title an ambiguous double meaning that helps bring together the metaphor that human power if fragile like tissue

  
• What can be analysed from the 1st stanza?

  • This stanza states that thin paper can ‘alter things’, so because of this, it has power 
  • However, this stanza could be seen in a religious way 
  • The “light” could represent the light of the world or the light of Heaven , and the ability to ‘alter things’ could be used to show that God has power 
  • In the last line , the paper could be representative of skin , which is “thinned by age or touching”

  
• What can be analysed from the 2nd stanza

  • The “well-used books” could show the power of mankind, who cause things to slowly decompose after many uses , just like the natural world around us 
  • The “Koran” could be a reference to the Middle East , and the may wars that have taken place there