Tissue Quizzes

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Tissue Quiz

1 Why is the title of the poem "Tissue?"
The title alludes to both meanings of the word in the poem: thin paper and human skin.

Human skin is a type of tissue.

The poet needed to blow her nose.

Paper is thin and allows the sun to shine through.
2 What is the poem's meter?
iambic pentameter

blank verse

free verse

iambic tetrameter
3 What is the poem's form?
twelve couplets

ten quatrains

nine quatrains and a single line

nine quatrains
4 What does paper most relate to in the poem?
Impermanence and ugliness of life

Books

Fragility and beauty of life

Waste
5 What is one way in which paper is NOT considered in the poem?
Economic records

Buildings made of paper

The environmental impact

The search for knowledge
6 According to the speaker, what could alter things?
Paper that lets the light shine through

Capitals and monuments

Paper that is thin from lack of care

Paper that is thick and durable
7 What was written in the back of the Koran?
Architectural designs

Family histories

Grocery lists

Diary
8 Which of the following is a simile?
"An architect could use all this, / place layer over layer, luminous / script over numbers over line,"

"with living tissue, raise a structure"

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

"might fly our lives like paper kites"
9 Which of the following is NOT an example of alliteration?
"transparent, // turned into your skin"

"has written in the names and histories"

"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?
Second and third person

First and second 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"?
The products of writing are compared to building materials.

Layers are compared to strata in the earth.

Writing is compared to living.

Architects are compared to writers.
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

God

Human hubris that causes someone to write in the holy book

Human hubris that causes someone to think they can remember business records without writing them down
14 What is the poem's tone?
Humble, Self-Deprecating, Facetious

Meditative, Hesitant, Constructive, Angry

Meditative, Constructive, Humble

Prideful, Self-Aware, Constructive
15 What is the poem's conflict?
Throughout history, paper buildings have been known to not last

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

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

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,

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

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
17 Which is an example of a synecdoche?
The architect who represents the creator

Maps

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?
Ancient civilizations

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

An attic where the speaker comes across the Koran

An office where the architect designs paper buildings
19 What is significant about the poem's setting?
The setting helps tell a story about finding the Koran and converting to Islam.

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

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
20 What does it mean to "alter" something?
to attempt to preserve it

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

to give something to a priest

to place it on an altar with the intention of sacrifice and prayer
21 How do the pages of the Koran become transparent in the poem?
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

They are handled by children who love to read the stories

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

Demolition

Neglect aesthetics in favor of functionality

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

The creator

Muhammad

An engineer
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 crush our lives like a building

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 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?
People relying on maps

Light shining through paper

People's hubris

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…