1. What ideas do you think of when you think of the word ‘ tissue’?
Write down as many associations as you can think of in one minute and then compare with a partner.

2. Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker was born in Pakistan, and moved to Glasgow when she was a year old. Dharker now divides her time between Wales, London and Mumbai and has often described herself as feeling ‘stateless’.
The poem ‘tissue’ explores themes of culture, identity and the permanence of structures.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

3. ‘Tissue’ by Imtiaz Dharker
Read through the poem.
Turn your copy over/shut your anthology. Jot down any words/phrases that you remember.
Choose the one word that stands out to you and write it out in your book – write an explanation as to what this word means and why you think it has been used.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

4. Be prepared to justify your reasons!
‘Tissue’ is quite a mysterious poem. Like the material we call tissue, the poem seems light and insubstantial. However, there is a conflict within the poem (and perhaps, within the poet).
Arrange the statements in order according to how well you think they describe the poem from most fitting to least fitting.
The poem concerns what is real and what is imaginary.
The poem sets a solid world against a transparent one.
The writer describes a different, freer, lighter world.
The writer admires things that are beautiful but not permanent.
The poem is a dream.
There is a conflict in the writer's mind beneath a calm surface.
Be prepared to justify your reasons!
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

5. Exploring the nouns Heavy Light Unsure block paper
Sort the nouns from the poem into categories headed ‘heavy’ and ‘light’. If you are not sure about any of the nouns, place them into the ‘unsure’ category, but you can only do this a maximum of three times!
Heavy
Light
Unsure
block
paper
When you are finished, annotate your poem using the poetry tree
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

6. Self-exploration questions
Work through these questions in your book.
Look at verses four and five. The poet asks some ‘what if?’ questions.
-For each verse, explain what is suggested.
-What might the poet be suggesting by wondering about ‘borderlines’ becoming transparent, or ‘shifting’?
In verse seven, what is the poem suggesting that an ‘architect’ could do with ‘all this’?
On the poem, highlight lines, words and phrases that suggest:
-lives beginning, being lived and ending.
-structures, countries, borders and landscape features.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

7. Why do you think Dharker chooses to write in this way?
How does the poem suggest possibilities as opposed to certainties throughout?
Why do you think Dharker chooses to write in this way?
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

8. To summarise… Key features:
Key themes:
-Personal conflict.
-How lives are lived and changed by the structures that surround us.
Key features:
-Carefully structured in nine four-line verses, with a single final line.
-Contrasting ideas and images of permanence and impermanence.
-Modal verbs to express uncertainty and possibility.
You could compare ‘Tissue’ to:
‘Ozymandias’, and ‘War Photographer’.