Question 1: What is the significance of the line 'Paper thinned by age or touching' in conveying the poem's themes?

Answer: It highlights fragility and the passage of time, emphasizing how material objects like paper and tissue can be delicate, yet carry history and memory.

Question 2: How does Dharker use imagery to depict the fragility of life and human constructs?

Answer: Through images of tissue and paper that are easily torn or crumpled, symbolizing life's delicate nature and the impermanence of human creations.

Question 1: Quote: 'Like a huge prayer,'

Answer: The simile compares the tissue to a prayer, suggesting reverence and the sacredness of delicate things, emphasizing their spiritual or significant value.

Question 2: Quote: 'Turned into your skin,'

Answer: This metaphor suggests that tissue or paper becomes an extension of oneself, symbolizing identity, vulnerability, and how personal and cultural histories are intertwined with our physical selves.

Question 3: Quote: 'Light as paper, like a tap' and 'thin as tissue,'

Answer: These similes emphasize fragility and lightness, reinforcing the theme of impermanence and the delicate nature of human life and history.

Question 1: How does Dharker explore the theme of power and control through the imagery of tissue and paper?

Answer: Dharker suggests that power is fragile and easily altered, like tissue, and that human constructs of power are temporary. The imagery of tissue as something that can be torn or reshaped reflects the transient nature of authority.

Question 2: In what ways does the poem comment on the relationship between humanity and nature?

Answer: The poem portrays tissue as a natural, flexible material that is shaped by human hands but also vulnerable to natural forces, highlighting the interconnectedness and fragility of human life within the natural world.

Question 1: Outline key similarities and differences in how Dharker and the chosen poet depict the theme of power and its impermanence.

Answer: Students should compare the transient nature of power in Tissue, symbolized by fragile materials, with the decay of power in Ozymandias, represented by the ruined statue. They should discuss how each poet uses imagery and language to emphasize the fleeting or corrupting nature of power.

Question 1: Using detailed quotations, analyze how Dharker’s choice of words and images convey the idea that nothing is permanent.

Answer: Students should focus on language choices such as 'thinned', 'fragile', 'light', and 'turning into your skin', demonstrating how these evoke vulnerability and change. They should discuss how imagery like tissue as a ‘huge prayer’ or ‘thin as tissue’ reinforces the idea of impermanence and the fleeting nature of human life and material culture.