Tissue Quizzes

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Tissue Quiz

1 Why is the title of the poem "Tissue?"
Human skin is a type of tissue.

The poet needed to blow her nose.

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

blank verse

iambic tetrameter
3 What is the poem's form?
nine quatrains and a single line

ten quatrains

twelve couplets

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

Buildings made of paper

Economic records
6 According to the speaker, what could alter things?
Paper that is thick and durable

Capitals and monuments

Paper that lets the light shine through

Paper that is thin from lack of care
7 What was written in the back of the Koran?
Architectural designs

Diary

Grocery lists

Family histories
8 Which of the following is a simile?
"Fine slips from grocery shops / that say how much was sold"

"An architect could use all this, / place layer over layer, luminous / script over numbers over line,"

"with living tissue, raise a structure"

"might fly our lives like paper kites"
9 Which of the following is NOT an example of alliteration?
"has written in the names and histories"

"transparent, // turned into your skin"

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

"pages smoothed and stroked"
10 What point(s) of view is/are present in the poem?
Third person

First person

Second and third person

First and second 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.

Writing is compared to living.

The products of writing are compared to building materials.
12 Who is the protagonist?
Imtiaz Dharker

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

Ayesha Dharker

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

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

Human hubris that believes in immortality and permanence

Human hubris that causes someone to write in the holy book
14 What is the poem's tone?
Meditative, Hesitant, Constructive, Angry

Prideful, Self-Aware, Constructive

Humble, Self-Deprecating, Facetious

Meditative, Constructive, Humble
15 What is the poem's conflict?
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, paper buildings have been known to not last

Throughout history, many people have not wanted to consider mortality because it makes them feel fragile
16 What is a synecdoche?
a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa,

the repeating of consonant sounds right next to each other, which creates a memorable or melodic effect.

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

a literary technique that places opposite things or ideas next to one another in order to draw out their contrast.
17 Which is an example of a synecdoche?
Maps

The architect who represents the creator

The image of "a hand" writing a genealogy into the back of the Koran

The skin of the reader
18 What is the poem's setting?
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

An attic where the speaker comes across the Koran

Ancient civilizations
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.

The setting helps tell a story about finding the Koran and converting to Islam.

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.
20 What does it mean to "alter" something?
to change it or cause a change in its character or composition

to attempt to preserve it

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

to give something to a priest
21 How do the pages of the Koran become transparent in the poem?
They are touched and smoothed often, showing the care with which the owner handles the book

They are handled by children who love to read the stories

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

They are very dusty, showing the way the book was in the attic for many years
22 What do architects do?
Demolition

Design buildings

Neglect aesthetics in favor of functionality

Take part in the construction
23 What does the architect become in the poem?
The speaker

Muhammad

An engineer

The creator
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 crush our lives like a building

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

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

People's hubris

People relying on maps

Paper as beautiful and thick

Tissue Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Tissue is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Tissue

Tissue study guide contains a biography of Imtiaz Dharker, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for Tissue…