Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Power & Conflict, topic 17.1.11
Key Quotations From Tissue (1)
Here are the main quotations you need to remember for your exams:
“Turned Into Your Skin”
- Paper symbolism
- Paper acting as a metaphor for human life is crystallised here.
“Paper that lets the light shine through”
- This line has religious connotations.
- The line also alludes to how thin and fragile paper (/human power) is.
“Paper that is thinned by age or touching”
- Language relating to thinness or transparency
- Emphasises fragility
“Pages smoothed and stroked
- “Pages smoothed and stroked and turned / transparent with attention”.
- As paper, or tissue, acts a symbol for human life, the references to the fragility of paper could also be references to the fragility of human life.
“the back of the Koran, where a hand
- “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.”
- This line emphasises the power of paper in recording history.
Key Quotations From Tissue (2)
Here are some more quotations important for your exams:
"Maps too. The sun shines through...
- "Maps too. The sun shines through / their borderlines".
- There is a contrast between “maps” - man’s attempt to make sense of nature - and the far more permanent, natural power of the “sun”.
- This could also be a reference to conflict, because conflict often arises over land/territory disputes.
“The daylight shines through capitals and monoliths”
- This natural imagery is contrasted with a description of a manmade structure to highlight how nature will always be more potent than human creations.
- “capitals and monoliths” are symbolic of government and human power.
“If buildings were paper, I might
- “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.”
- The poet invites us to see how temporary and ephemeral (short-lasting) human structures are through asking us to imagine they were made of paper.
"Paper that lets the light
- "Paper that lets the light / shine through, this / is what could alter things."
- Dharker uses light imagery to comment on the power of God and religion.
- If the “light” is a metaphor for God, this could be read as a comment on the power of religion to change things.
"what was paid by credit card"
- "what was paid by credit card / might fly our lives like paper kites”.
- This simile could suggest how humans are dominated and controlled by money.
- The poet could be suggesting that humans have caused conflict by assigning significance to such things.
“the marks / that rivers make, roads, / railtracks, mountainfolds”
- Dharker uses these techniques to comment on human greed for control and power.
- This list highlights the idea that man is determined to control, dominate and make sense of nature.
Key Comparisons: Tissue
Here are some suggestions for texts you could compare in your exam. Of course, the list of possibilities is endless!
Nature vs human power
- You may want to compare the theme of nature vs human power in Tissue to the following texts:
- Ozymandias.
- Exposure.
- The Prelude.
- Storm on the Island.
Test yourself on Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)
Which of these are quotes showing the fragility of paper?
Which of these is not a quote somehow showing the fragility of paper?
Which of these quotes emphasises the power of paper to record history?
“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.”
What does this symbolism suggest about buildings?"Paper that lets the light / shine through, this / is what could alter things"
What do some people think light is symbolic of in this quote?