To use MITSL to develop a response to the poem Tissue Objectives: To explore the poem Tissue focusing on how Dharker has used poetic devices to portray the theme of power and conflict To use MITSL to develop a response to the poem

Thinking about Paper How is paper fragile? How is paper powerful? How is paper like life? Paper records powerful messages e.g. religious texts. Paper records our history e.g. birth certificate. Powerful structures are designed on paper e.g. Architecture. Well know landmarks are printed on maps. Worthless paper controls our lives e.g. receipts and bank statements.

Imtiaz Dharker Watch the clip. She introduces herself and the rest is her reading another poem ‘These are the times we live in’. Get the class to discuss what sort of issues she might discuss in her poerty and then get them to link it back to the title’ Tissue’.

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 break through capitals and monoliths, through the shapes that pride can make, find a way to trace a grand 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.

What aspects of the idea of ‘tissue’ are explored in each verse? Verses What aspect of ‘tissue’ is explored? Key quotation/s 1-3 Very thin, see through paper, books (Koran), certificates “paper thinned by age or touching” “pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention”

Do you think the word paper is capitalised just because it’s at the start of a sentence? Why might the paper ‘let’ the light through? What paper is she talking about? What sort of verb is this called? Why does she use this type? Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things. Paper thinned by age or touching, What sort of paper might be thinned this way? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

What other books could be well-used. What does this phrase imply What other books could be well-used? What does this phrase imply? Is it positive or negative? Do we have links to identity here? 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, Why is the hand anonymous? What themes might be formed so far? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

transparent with attention. Why include all of these details? Can you start seeing a theme here? The height and weight, who died where and how, on which sepia date, pages smoothed and stroked and turned transparent with attention. techniques? Think about the choice of words. Can ‘turned’ have two meanings? Why is the paper now see through? What has it become? Why is this important? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

What do you notice about her choice of verbs again? What have we been given for the first time and why is this important? 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.   What do you notice about her choice of verbs here? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

Maps too. The sun shines through their borderlines, the marks Why do you think she begins this verse with this short sentence? Is the sun doing something more powerful here? Maps too. The sun shines through their borderlines, the marks that rivers make,roads, railtracks, mountainfolds, How might borderlines link to her message in the poem? What do all of these have in common? What do they do/change/create? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

Why are receipts described as fine? Are their double meanings? How does this sound? What techniques does she use to make it sound this way? 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. Notice anything again? Why does she keep using this type of word? What's the technique? Why choose a kite? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

What does an architect do? Why does she choose this profession here? Notice anything again? Why does she keep using this type of word? What is ‘all this’? An architect could use all this, place layer over layer, luminous script over numbers over line, and never wish to build again with brick What type of word is this? Why does she choose it? What does the repetition do here? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

or block, but let the daylight break through capitals and monoliths, Does this sound familiar? Which other verse talks about something similar and why? Technique? How many other verses use this? What does it add? or block, but let the daylight break through capitals and monoliths, through the shapes that pride can make, find a way to trace a grand design Why does she choose these structures and then make the third line vague? What shapes might pride make? What might be the grandest design of them all? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse? A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains, or a single large piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument or building.

Are we coming to the ‘point’ of the poem now? Notice similarities again? In which verse does this feature? What links can you make? with living tissue, raise a structure never meant to last, of paper smoothed and stroked and thinned to be transparent, turned into your skin. What is this word again? Why has she used it here? Whose skin? This is the only line on its own. Why? Meaning Tone Imagery Structure Language What is happening in this verse?

Possible themes What sort of ideas does Dharker seem interested in? Highlight lines, words and phrases that suggest: Lives beginning, being lived and ending Structures, countries, borders and features of the landscape Now, get another two different colours. Mark sections of the poem that relate to: Solidity and certainty Change and impermanence

Get students to work on MITSL on their own today.

Compare the ways poets present conflict/change in ‘Tissue’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’ Tissue Meaning (title) Imagery Tone Structure Language

Compare the ways poets present conflict/change in ‘Tissue’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’

30 min response Using your information from your table or venn diagram write a response to the question: Compare the ways poets present conflict/change in ‘Tissue’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’

Success criteria Is there: An introduction which includes both poems outlining their meaning and their titles? A section on imagery which compares both poems in relation to conflict/change using quotes? A section on tone which compares both poems in relation to conflict/change using quotes? A section on structure which compares both poems in relation to conflict/change using quotes? A section on language which compares both poems in relation to conflict/change using quotes?