Tissue Quizzes

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Tissue Quiz

1 Why is the title of the poem "Tissue?"
The poet needed to blow her nose.

The title alludes to both meanings of the word in the poem: thin paper and human skin.

Paper is thin and allows the sun to shine through.

Human skin is a type of tissue.
2 What is the poem's meter?
blank verse

iambic pentameter

free verse

iambic tetrameter
3 What is the poem's form?
nine quatrains

ten quatrains

nine quatrains and a single line

twelve couplets
4 What does paper most relate to in the poem?
Waste

Books

Impermanence and ugliness of life

Fragility and beauty of life
5 What is one way in which paper is NOT considered in the poem?
Buildings made of paper

Economic records

The environmental impact

The search for knowledge
6 According to the speaker, what could alter things?
Paper that is thick and durable

Paper that is thin from lack of care

Paper that lets the light shine through

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

Diary

Family histories

Architectural designs
8 Which of the following is a simile?
"might fly our lives like paper kites"

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

"with living tissue, raise a structure"

"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?
"transparent, // turned into your skin"

"pages smoothed and stroked"

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

"has written in the names and histories"
10 What point(s) of view is/are present in the poem?
Second and third person

First person

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

Architects are compared to writers.

Layers are compared to strata in the earth.

Writing is compared to living.
12 Who is the protagonist?
The speaker who meditates on paper and the transitive nature of life

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

Ayesha Dharker

Imtiaz Dharker
13 Who is the antagonist?
Human hubris that believes in immortality and permanence

Human hubris that causes someone to write in the holy book

God

Human hubris that causes someone to think they can remember business records without writing them down
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, many people have not wanted to consider mortality because it makes them feel fragile

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

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
16 What is a synecdoche?
the repeating of consonant sounds right next to each other, which creates a memorable or melodic effect.

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

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

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa,
17 Which is an example of a synecdoche?
The image of "a hand" writing a genealogy into the back of the Koran

Maps

The skin of the reader

The architect who represents the creator
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 attic where the speaker comes across the Koran

An office where the architect designs paper buildings

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.

Setting is not significant

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.
20 What does it mean to "alter" something?
to place it on an altar with the intention of sacrifice and prayer

to give something to a priest

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

to attempt to preserve it
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?
Take part in the construction

Design buildings

Demolition

Neglect aesthetics in favor of functionality
23 What does the architect become in the poem?
An engineer

The creator

Muhammad

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 brick kite

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
25 Which image is repeated throughout the poem?
Light shining through paper

People relying on maps

Paper as beautiful and thick

People's hubris

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…