Tissue Quizzes

1 Why is the title of the poem "Tissue?"

The poet needed to blow her nose.

Human skin is a type of tissue.

Paper is thin and allows the sun to shine through.

The title alludes to both meanings of the word in the poem: thin paper and human skin.
2 What is the poem's meter?

free verse

iambic pentameter

iambic tetrameter

blank verse
3 What is the poem's form?

nine quatrains and a single line

twelve couplets

ten quatrains

nine quatrains
4 What does paper most relate to in the poem?

Fragility and beauty of life

Waste

Impermanence and ugliness of life

Books
5 What is one way in which paper is NOT considered in the poem?

The search for knowledge

The environmental impact

Economic records

Buildings made of paper
6 According to the speaker, what could alter things?

Paper that is thick and durable

Paper that lets the light shine through

Paper that is thin from lack of care

Capitals and monuments
7 What was written in the back of the Koran?

Family histories

Diary

Architectural designs

Grocery lists
8 Which of the following is a simile?

"with living tissue, raise a structure"

"Fine slips from grocery shops / that say how much was sold"

"might fly our lives like paper kites"

"An architect could use all this, / place layer over layer, luminous / script over numbers over line,"
9 Which of the following is NOT an example of alliteration?

"never wish to build again with brick // or block"

"has written in the names and histories"

"pages smoothed and stroked"

"transparent, // turned into your skin"
10 What point(s) of view is/are present in the poem?

First and second person

Second and third person

First person

Third person
11 What is the metaphor in the following lines: "An architect could use all this, / place layer over layer, luminous / script over numbers over line"?

Architects are compared to writers.

Layers are compared to strata in the earth.

The products of writing are compared to building materials.

Writing is compared to living.
12 Who is the protagonist?

Ayesha Dharker

The speaker who meditates on paper and the transitive nature of life

Imtiaz Dharker

The speaker's mother who meditates on paper and the transitive nature of life
13 Who is the antagonist?

Human hubris that believes in immortality and permanence

Human hubris that causes someone to think they can remember business records without writing them down

Human hubris that causes someone to write in the holy book

God
14 What is the poem's tone?

Meditative, Constructive, Humble

Humble, Self-Deprecating, Facetious

Prideful, Self-Aware, Constructive

Meditative, Hesitant, Constructive, Angry
15 What is the poem's conflict?

Throughout history, paper buildings have been known to not last

Throughout history, many people have constructed buildings they think will last forever

Throughout history, many people have not wanted to consider mortality because it is against their religion

Throughout history, many people have not wanted to consider mortality because it makes them feel fragile
16 What is a synecdoche?

a literary technique that places opposite things or ideas next to one another in order to draw out their contrast.

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa,

a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated

the repeating of consonant sounds right next to each other, which creates a memorable or melodic effect.
17 Which is an example of a synecdoche?

The skin of the reader

Maps

The architect who represents the creator

The image of "a hand" writing a genealogy into the back of the Koran
18 What is the poem's setting?

Ancient civilizations

An attic where the speaker comes across the Koran

The setting takes place in the speaker's mind as the reader is guided through various mediations on paper.

An office where the architect designs paper buildings
19 What is significant about the poem's setting?

The poem is more focused on meditating on the transient nature of life using the metaphor of paper than on telling a specific story.

Setting is not significant

The poem is more focused on providing random images that do not relate to each other than on telling a specific story.

The setting helps tell a story about finding the Koran and converting to Islam.
20 What does it mean to "alter" something?

to change it or cause a change in its character or composition

to place it on an altar with the intention of sacrifice and prayer

to attempt to preserve it

to give something to a priest
21 How do the pages of the Koran become transparent in the poem?

They are very dusty, showing the way the book was in the attic for many years

They are handled by children who love to read the stories

They are handled very roughly, leading to the book's decay

They are touched and smoothed often, showing the care with which the owner handles the book
22 What do architects do?

Neglect aesthetics in favor of functionality

Design buildings

Take part in the construction

Demolition
23 What does the architect become in the poem?

The creator

Muhammad

An engineer

The speaker
24 How does the poet portray our relationship with the economic system in the poem?

The slips of paper with a grocery's business records show that the speaker is in debt

The slips of paper with a grocery's business records fly our lives like a paper kite

The slips of paper with a grocery's business records crush our lives like a building

The slips of paper with a grocery's business records fly our lives like a brick kite
25 Which image is repeated throughout the poem?

Paper as beautiful and thick

People's hubris

Light shining through paper

People relying on maps

Tissue

by Imtiaz Dharker

Tissue Quiz

Tissue Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Tissue