Video: Tissue (Part 1)

﻿Hi, Miss Walker here. Welcome to today's lesson on the poem "Tissue" by Imtiaz Dharker. This is going to be the lesson where we read the poem for the first time. Now it has got quite a lot of different meanings to it, and it's open to a lot of interpretation, but we will try our best here to pin down and establish meaning behind the text. Before we get started, make sure you've got something to write on or write with, and also make sure that your working area is free of any distractions before we get started. Today's key question. How does Dharker present paper in the poem "Tissue"? We've got a key word and a key term to learn today. Let's get started. So fragility is our key word. The definition of fragility is, the quality of being easily broken or damaged. So delicate and vulnerable. Synonyms for the word are weakness, delicacy, vulnerability, brittleness, so can snap quite easily and frailty. The words etymology, so where it comes from, the root of it is, from the Latin fragilis which means brittle, easily broken. And that's from the root of frangere to break. The adjective for fragility is fragile. Let's have a look at how the word is used in these examples. First one, the fragility of the old man became more visible when he stood up. He looked like the wind was going to blow him over. Two, humans can be striking and destructive, however, our power can seem fragile and weak when faced with the power of nature. Our term for today is an extended metaphor. So we know a metaphor is used to make a comparison between two things to emphasise specific ideas or images. An extended metaphor is when the comparison is used throughout a piece of text. It runs through the entire thing. An example of an extended metaphor is in Harry Styles' song "Watermelon Sugar." Sorry if you're not a fan. The strawberries are an extended metaphor for the sweet enjoyment and happiness you experience from meeting someone for the first time in summer, and that metaphor is drawn out throughout the whole song. Let's apply some of that key vocabulary. So which sentence best describes the fragility of flowers? So how vulnerable and damageable they are. Number one, my sister smashed the flowers into the ground because she doesn't like them. Two, the wind blew and the petals disappeared. Just like that, the flowers were dead. And three, those flowers have survived the 25 degree heat. I don't know how, but I'm very impressed. Pause the video and choose which sentence best describes the fragility of flowers. Well done it was two. This delicate breath of wind blew and the petals disappeared just like that, the flowers were dead. Quick check for extended metaphor, true or false. An extended metaphor only has to be mentioned once in a piece of text. True or false? False, a metaphor can be mentioned once. However, an extended metaphor means that it is drawn out across the text. We're going to be stealing the term semantic field from previous lessons. If you aren't familiar with it, please do note down what it is and why writers use it. Moving on to part two, we need to know about the context of the poem in order to establish meaning within it. The poet Imtiaz Dharker. She was born in 1954. She's a poet and a filmmaker. She has Pakistani origins, and yet she was raised in Glasgow. Many of her poems examine issues such as religion, terrorism, global politics, and identity. 'Tissue' the poem that we're going to be studying today is taken from a collection of poems titled 'The Terrorists at My Table'. The poem was written in 2006 and it illustrates the power of paper to construct our lives and the society we live in. Two, paper is used as an extended metaphor for human skin, and that explores the fragility of human life and existence. Quick check for understanding. One, what issues do Dharker's poems explore usually? Two, what does paper have the power to do? And three, what is tissue an extended metaphor in the poem? Pause the video to answer the questions. Here's some of the possible answers. So one her perms explore issues of religion, terrorism, global politics and identity. Two, a paper has the power to construct, build our lives and the societies we live in. And three, tissue is an extended metaphor for human skin. The method helps the reader to understand how fragile our human existence is. First and foremost, the poem is about paper. So we really need to understand the uses that the multiple practical uses of paper before we dive into reading the text. So paper has been essential in building economies, nations, empires. It has impacted key aspects of civilization such as commerce, so trading. Is impacted architecture, so designing buildings. And also cartography as mentioned in the poem. So that's creating, it's the study of maps as well. Paper is used to record powerful, even sacred, knowledge and information. Quick task for you. What uses of paper can you think of? Pause the video and list as many as you can. Well done, so paper can be used to store and transfer knowledge and information. I've got a list here. Maybe you've got some extra things to add to it, that would be fantastic if you do. So I thought about birth and death certificates, identity documents, records of history, recording knowledge to be passed on. Papers are also used for paintings and drawings. It's used for recording sacred writings. Obviously we know about it for money, cash, bills, receipts. It's used for education as well, textbooks, exercise books. And also maybe not as popular with some of you guys, but newspapers as well. This information source that's really, really valuable. As for the questions below in full sentences, what three aspects of civilization does Dharker link paper to? And two, considering the list of all the uses of paper, what can we suggest about the role of paper in society? Pause the video to answer the questions. It's also the three aspects of civilization she links it to are commerce, which is trading. Architecture, which is drawing and designing buildings and cartography, which is the study and design of maps. Two, we can consider paper as an essential part of our society as it helps knowledge and information be transferred between people. And without paper, whole pieces of history and society would disappear. More information on paper. Why is it significant to humans? Well, paper has helped structure culture and society. Paper allows for connections between different points in time and space. So time is referring to information that was recorded in the past that we still use now, and space means that paper can travel, and therefore information can travel on paper. It's also very powerful because people can decide how they use paper and that can change the future. Paper has the power to cause conflict. The knowledge and beliefs recorded on it can divide groups of people. Think about religious wars. Think about wars started over borderlines and nations. These are all the result of what has been recorded on paper. Going to hone in on the importance of maps as it is referred to in the poem. Maps are important because they connect humankind to their physical landscape. Maps allow for graphic representation of rivers, roads, railways and mountain, which allows us to travel and explore the world. They also help people to navigate the world more easily. And maps also symbolised power. Think of the growing empires and nation states. Quick check for understanding. One, true or false? Paper allows for connections between different points in time and space? Two, paper does not have the power to cause conflict? Three, maps allow for graphic representation of rivers, roads, railways, mountains? Four, the only purpose of maps is to help with directions? You decide true or false and correct the statement if it's false. One was true, two is false, paper can hold ideas and beliefs that may cause conflict. Remember I mentioned the religious wars for example, that's because sacred texts have been recorded on paper and those ideas have been shared and people have not necessarily agreed with those beliefs. Three is true, four false. Maps can also represent or symbolise a nation's power. So that was a lot of information about paper. Now let's see how the information can be applied to the actual poem itself. And now I'm going to give you a reading of it. Remember, the glossary is on the right-hand side in the grey box. If there are any words you're unfamiliar with, pause and check what the meaning of them is. 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. 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. Maps too, 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. An architect could use all this, place layer over layer, luminous script over numbers over line, and never wish to build again with brick or block, but let the daylight breakthrough capitals and monoliths, through the shapes that pride can make. Find a way to trace the ground design with living tissue, raise a structure never meant to last, of paper smoothed and stroked and thinned to be transparent, turned into your skin. We only have time to do one reading of the poem, but I would highly recommend either reading through the poem yourself or rewinding so you can hear me read it through to you again. Don't worry if you're at a bit of a loss to what's going on. This poem has got a lot of ambiguous meanings, which means there is a lot of uncertainty at the poem. That's what we're now going to try and help pin down in part four of the lesson. So let's establish the meaning behind this text. We'll start with the stanzas summaries. See-through paper, it is delicate, but it has the power to change everything. This paper is made thin by time and human touch. This is the kind of paper you might find in an old book. Like the Koran for example, where someone may have written the details of a family tree or records of people's weight, height, where, and when they died. These records are looked at so frequently, the paper is starting to thin. If buildings were made out of paper, you'd be able to see how easily they can move with the wind and how fragile they are. Think about maps too, about how easily the sun would shine through and hide all the borderlines, the roads and the rail tracks. The map would become less powerful. Think about receipts, which tell us how much we spent and when. Money might control our lives, just like we control kites. An architect could you use all these different pieces of paper to create a new building. The building would shine with light and all the important pieces of information about us. They would never need to use brick or block again. Let the daylight break through the existing buildings that have been made. Let a new grand design be created. Now, this is where it gets a bit confusing. The grand design could be the body. The design would be made with living material. Like humans, it would not be built to last. It would only be temporary. Then the material then turns into our skin. This shows the connection between the fragility of humans and between paper. There are 10 stanzas I've grouped them into five sets of pairs. I want you to read through these ideas, the five ideas on the screen, and I'd like you to place them in the right order in which they happen in the poem. So pause the video and give it your best shot. So block two would have come first. Paper has the ability to change things; it's powerful. You might find the fragile paper in a sacred text like the Koran. We record details of our birth deaths on paper, our weight and our height too. Imagine if buildings were made out of paper, they'd sway in the wind. The sun would shine through the maps, hiding the borderlines. Thin and fragile receipts have the power to control our lives. What if an architect made a new building with these types of paper? Could let the sun shine through these buildings and make a grand design of living tissue. The design would be human, and it would only be built to last temporarily. So not forever. The fragile paper would become our fragile skin tissue. Right, paper is represented in three different ways in the poem. The first one is presented as delicate and fragile. Secondly, it can be used as a tool for recording information and transferring knowledge. Thirdly, paper is used as an extended metaphor, but that's for the fragility of human life. We need to keep these three representations in our minds when we move on to the next part of the lesson which is going to be looking at groups of lines from the poem in closer detail in order to establish meaning. Lines one to three, paper that lets the light to shine through. This is what could alter things. In this group of lines, Dharker highlights the power of paper to change situations and alter futures. The speaker highlights the power of paper, saying in line three, that this is what could alter things. This is what could change things effectively. How does paper have the power to change the future for better or for worse? Pause the video to answer the question and resume once you're finished. Paper has helped structure cultures and societies and entire nations and empires have been built on paper. Without it, important knowledge and information would not have survived. People can use paper in different ways to change the future. For example, someone can use paper to record their political beliefs. They could then share the paper and their ideas. The transportation of knowledge on that paper, may help do good in the world or it may cause conflict. Either way, it has the power to change things. Second group of lines. In this group of lines, Dharker presents some uses of paper. One, what uses of paper are being listed in the second stanza here? And two, why is it important that people record names, births, deaths, religious beliefs, and histories? Pause the video to answer the questions. In this stanza, paper is used to record religious and sacred beliefs to record names and births and to record histories. Recording all this information is crucial for connecting people across time. In the past, if this information was not recorded on paper, then it would have become lost. Entire identities and histories would be erased, they'd be wiped out and there'll be no way of getting them back because they have not been recorded anywhere else. People would have no idea of where they came from or where they belong. Lines 13 to 14, Dharker has presented the use of paper for cartography, which member means creating maps. However, the fragility of paper has been presented here too. What is more powerful than paper in this group of lines? And two, what does this image tell us about paper? Pause the video to answer the questions. Light is presented as more powerful than paper because it can shine through the paper. We know that maps are powerful because they can be used to control borders and places and people. However, light has the ability to shine through the paper and make it appear transparent. So make those lines seem less important or powerless in some way. Lines 21 to 23. The speaker invites us to acknowledge the beauty and the fragility of paper. And through the extended metaphor, we need to acknowledge the beauty and fragility of human life. Paper become smoothed and thinned over time. Here is a selection of words and phrases from the poem to describe how delicate paper is. So it becomes thinned, it becomes transparent with our touch. It's so thin that it can let the light shine through. And of course it's described as fine as well. Pause the video here to consider this question. What might you call the semantic field that Dharker has created here? I would go ahead and say that she's used a semantic field of fragility to help with our understanding of the meaning of paper. What ideas or images might that semantic field highlight to the reader? Use the words or phrases from the poem in your response. The truth and beauty of human life argues the poem is that it is "never meant to last". What does this tell us about the power of humankind?

Exit Quiz: Tissue (Part 1)

Completed: Tissue (Part 1)

In this lesson, we will explore the meaning and key ideas of Imtiaz Dharker's poem 'Tissue' (2006). You will be provided with key information about  the meaning of the poem to help to develop your understanding of the text.

English

Tissue (Part 1)

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete