Tissue

• Tissue paper is used as an extended metaphor for life to show that although fragile, humans have a large amount of power to change things.
• Tissue paper is described to be fragile and easily affected by aging and handling.
• Paper is then attributed to the significance of the Koran.
• Maps and buildings are then included in the extended metaphor.
• Dharker claims that an architect could use tissue to build with and never need to use brick again.
• Tissue is then finally likened to skin.
• Imtiaz Dharker was born in Pakistan but grew up in Glasgow and describes herself as “Scottish, Pakistani, Muslim, Calvinist”.
• Most of her poetry concentrates on identity and home which is significant given her ability to reconcile her conflicting identities as well as dividing her time between Wales, India and London.
• The poem “Tissue” comes from the 2006 collection “The terrorist at my table” which is focused on global politics, terrorism, extremism, religion and fundamentalism.
• The poem “Tissue” acts as a preface to explore the source of fundamentalism (the abuse of power).
• Dharker presents the idea that humans do not have the right attitude to life, we see it as permanent and an opportunity to gain power.
• The critical view in the poem may be reflective of Dharker having to see her husband suffer with cancer for 11 years before dying of it which may have demonstrated to her the temporary nature of life.
• 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 died where and how, on which sepia date, pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention.
• Dharker sets out what she believes would make an ideal society, with buildings able to “fall away on a sigh”, symbolizing their ability to change and adapt easily.
• If buildings were paper, I might feel their drift, see how easily they fall away on a sigh, a shift in the direction of the wind.
• Dharker explores what humans deem to be truly important by what they put on paper, referencing religious truths, buildings, borders, money.
• In Blake’s poem, the narrator seems to accept the cyclical nature of corruption, which is seen in the structure of the poem.
• There is no reference to a specific God in this poem which reflects Dharker’s exploration and criticism of fundamentalism in the collection.
• The poem could be interpreted to also be a source of enlightenment to the listener of a new way of living in which God is able to permeate through life and materialism.
• Money, if given too much power, can govern our lives and is able to divide people.
• Both poets are critical of material wealth and inequality, with Dharker focusing on “chartered” land in London and Blake showing how money is able to “fly our lives like paper kites”.
• A person can be like a map with many different countries and cultures contained within them and no borders.
• In the final stanza, the “Marks of weakness” referred to in the first stanza are alluded to in the final line “blights with plagues”.
• Human power is presented to be a source of oppression and suffering in London, with the citizens suffering in “mind forged manacles” and tissue “borderlines” acting as a symbol of division and limitation.
• Maps too.
• Light is used as a symbol of truth and enlightenment to show how the world should be viewed.
• The symbol of light is a recurring theme throughout the poem which begins with “Paper that lets the light shine through”.
• God is described in terms of light in both the Muslim and Christian holy books, reflecting Dharker’s upbringing.
• The Koran, although paper, is a collection of lives and the power it contains does not come from the paper but from the influence it has on people’s lives.
• The sun shines through their borderlines, the marks that rivers make, roads, railtracks, mountainfolds, Fine slips from grocery shops that say how much was sold and what was paid by credit card might fly our lives like paper kites.
• Alliteration of a harsh consonant highlights Dharker’s disdain towards these man-made structures.
• Society can be viewed as a tissue as it is made from a collection of cells and is intrinsically fragile but it could also become more like tissue by becoming more flexible.
• There is a turning point when it is revealed that the poem is in fact about living flesh.
• The whole poem is written in quatrains which provides a consistent structure to show how restrictive human power and control can be.
• The poem takes the form of an allegory which has the hidden meaning of revealing the transience of life.
• Extended metaphor likening surrounding objects to human life.
• The combined effect of these devices is to show that humanity is not in control as much as it would like to imagine and the poem may be mocking those who believe they have a lot of power.
• The final line is only a single line to emphasise and isolate its meaning.
• The line “Paper that lets the light shine through” is ironic as despite it being translucent, it is able to exert great influence.