Class 9 Poem Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary, Explanation Notes

 

 

CBSE Class 9 English Poem Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary, Explanation and Question Answers from Literature Reader (Communicative) Book

 
Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Class 9 – CBSE Class 9 English Literature Reader (Communicative) Book Poem Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary and Detailed explanation of the Poem along with the meanings of difficult words. All the exercises and Questions and Answers given at the back of the lesson have been covered.

 

Class 9 English Literature Reader Poem – Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth
By Pam Ayres

 

• Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Introduction
• Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary
• Video Explanation of Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth
• Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Lesson Explanation
• Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Question Answers

 
 

Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Introduction

In this poem the poet narrates her experience of suffering due to excessive eating of sweets. Her teeth got cavities, and had to be treated by the dentist. She suffers pain and repents for eating so many sweets and damaging her teeth. This is a poem about growing up. The poet wants to give a message to all of us to care for our teeth. We must listen to our parents when they ask us to brush our teeth. Teeth are our friends, precious to us and must be cleaned regularly to prevent damage.
 
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Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Summary

The poem begins with a regret from the poet who wishes that she had cared for her teeth when she had been eating too many toffees, sweet sticky food and gobstoppers. She wishes that she had taken care of her teeth and had spotted the cavities under them while brushing. She also wishes that she had more teeth than filling and that she had bought something harmless with her money apart from the sweets. When the poet thinks of the lollies, candies, peanuts, sweets; she is full of repentance. She feels sorry for herself that she did not give up eating those sweets although she used to brush regularly and checked for decay. Because of the sweets, she has to now undergo injections, drills and fillings which are very painful. The narrator shows her teeth to her mother. Her mother tells her that having a tooth is equal to having a friend. The narrator did not take her mother’s advice. She never took care of her teeth. The narrator says that she showed the toothpaste to her teeth. She brushed them up and down and checked them carefully and found out that she was able to eat and bite. The narrator thinks that if she had known before that by eating so many sweets and ignoring her teeth, she was making a way for cavities, caps and decay and causing the use of injections, drills and fillings, she would have thrown away all the sweets. The poet had to go to the dentist for drilling, fillings etc. She sat in the dentist’s chair in distress while the doctor drilled into her mouth. She can hear the drilling sound while the dentist works on her molars. He says that he would have to carry out two fillings with amalgam in them. The narrator finally ends her poem by saying that she had once laughed at her mother’s false teeth as they were foamed for cleaning. But is it now the time for her to wear the same and wishes that she had taken care of her teeth.
 
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Video Explanation of Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth

 

 
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Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth – Poem Explanation

Poem:
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath.
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food,
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

Word meanings:
me teeth: my teeth
perils: dangers

Explanation:
The poetess says that she wished that she had looked after her teeth. She wished she could have been able to see the cavities forming in her teeth before it was too late. These cavities are very dangerous and are hidden beneath layers of toffees and sweets which get stuck to the teeth but she loved eating them. Cavities are formed faster when we eat sugary and sticky food and we do not care to rinse or brush our teeth after eating them.

Poem:
I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To pass up gobstoppers.
From respect to me choppers,
And to buy something else with me shillin’.

Word meanings:
fillin’: filling, the material put in a dental cavity to fill it
To pass up: to let go
gobstoppers: a large, hard sweet
choppers: teeth
shillin’: shilling, a currency

Explanation:
The poetess wished that she had been more determined to give up eating those hard sweets before they caused the damage. Now, most of her tooth is gone and the tooth is replaced by a filling. She wished that she would have respected her teeth more back then. She should have used her shilling or money to buy something else, something which would have been more useful to her.

Poem:
When I think of the lollies I licked,
And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.

Word meanings:
lollies: Sugary sweets
liquorice: candy made with the dried root of the liquorice plant
sherbet dabs: tiny sweets
brittle: something that is hard but easy to break
pricked: disturbed

Explanation:
The poetess says that now when she thinks of all the sugary lollipops she had licked, all the liquorice, sherbet dabs and peanuts she had eaten, her conscience feels disturbed. In other words, she was ashamed of herself that she ate so much sugary stuff.

Poem:
My mother, she told me no end.
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.

Explanation:
The poetess remembers how her mother kept on repeating one saying day after day. The saying was that – “If you got a tooth, you got a friend”. It means that good and healthy teeth are the best companion you can ever get. One cannot live their life to the fullest without their teeth. The poetess says that she was young back then, and like all young people, she too ignored her mother’s advice. She was careless with her teeth. Her toothbrush too was not suitable for cleaning teeth efficiently as there was not enough hair on it. She was also busy in her studies and playing with her friends, and so she never had enough time to pay attention to her teeth.

Poem:
Oh, I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!

Word meanings:
flash: Move very quickly
pokin’ and fussin’: checking carefully

Explanation:
The poetess says that she did brush before sleeping. She showed her teeth toothpaste, meaning that she brushed her teeth with toothpaste before going to sleep. However, she was not careful while brushing her teeth. She moved her brush quickly and finished her brushing in less time. She did not have the patience to brush her teeth in the proper manner. Therefore, even though she used toothpaste, she had a casual attitude towards her teeth, and did not brush them thoroughly.

Poem:
If I’d known, I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s
Injections and drillin’s,
I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.

Word meanings:
paving: making
caps: covering on top of ruined tooth
sherbet: a type of sweet snack

Explanation:
The poet says that if she would have known that she would have to go through the pain of having cavities and decay, then she would have all her sweets and sherbet away. If she were aware of the murder of fillings, injections, drillings, caps and all sorts of dental treatment that she would have to go through, she would have thrown all the sweets away. This indicates that the poetess was unaware of the outcome of not taking care of her teeth. She did not realise that losing a tooth would mean going through a lot of pain and suffering.

Poem:
So I lay in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,
In these molars of mine.
“Two amalgum,” he’ll say, “for in there.”

Word meanings:
amalgam: a vowel changed for better impact- a mixture of mercury and silver used to make fillings

Explanation:
The poetess talks of the aftermath of her carelessness, where she ended up in the old dentist’s chair. She looked at the dentist in such a way that showed that she was desperate to do anything to undo the cavities and decay. This indicates that she was prepared to do anything to stop the dentist from drilling and putting a cap on her teeth. However, she did not have the power to restore her teeth back to normal and so, all she could do was look up at the dentist’s face with a look of desperation on her face. The poetess recalled the sound of the drill, and said that drill seemed to be whining or crying out loud with pain. This indicates that she vividly remembers not only the pain and fear she felt during the treatment but also other little details like the sound of the drill. Here, the drill is personified to produce a crying sound which only humans and animals can produce. The whining of the drill signifies the pain the poetess felt when her teeth were getting drilled. She also says that she had cavities mostly in her molars, which are the teeth used for chewing food. She even remembers the exact words of the dentist, and that the dentist asked his assistant for two amalgams to fill the cavities in the molar teeth.

Poem:
How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s me they are beckonin’
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

Word meanings:
reckonin’: reckoning, judgement
beckonin’: beckoning, calling

Explanation:
The poetess remembers how she had laughed and made fun of her mother’s false teeth. This indicates that her mother had gone through the same pain that she did. The mother had artificial dentures, which is required to be cleaned daily. So when the mother removed her artificial teeth and put them in the water, a foam would be created. The poetess would look at the artificial teeth which were beneath the foam and would laugh and tease her mother for having them. However, now the poetess herself was receiving the judgement, meaning that now the poetess too had some artificial teeth and now it was her turn to be laughed at by other people. She says that now people call her by different names which is indicative of her false teeth. The poetess concludes the video by saying that she really wishes that she had taken proper care of her teeth.

Poetic Devices

1. Rhyme Scheme
In all Stanzas – aabba

2. Alliteration – repetition of a consonant sound at the start of two or more consecutive words
Stanza 1 – ‘sweet sticky’
Stanza 2 – ‘much more’ and ‘there than’
Stanza 3 – ‘lollies I licked,’
Stanza 4 – ‘them the’
Stanza 5 – ‘cavities, caps’
Stanza 6 – ‘drill it do’ and ‘molars of mine.’
Stanza 7 – ‘my mother’s’

3. Assonance – repeated use of a vowel sound
Stanza 1 – “And spotted the perils beneath.” and “All the toffees I chewed,”
Stanza 3 – “When I think of the lollies I licked,” and “All that hard peanut brittle,”
Stanza 4 – “Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right,”
Stanza 5 – “To cavities, caps and decay,” and “Injections and drillin’s,”
Stanza 6 – “And his drill it do whine,”
Stanza 7 – “How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,As they foamed in the waters beneath.”

4. Consonance – repeated use of a consonant sound
Stanza 2 – “To pass up gobstoppers.”
Stanza 4 – “Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right,”
Stanza 5 – “To cavities, caps and decay,”

5. Enjambment – when a sentence continues to the next line and the punctuation mark at the end is missing
Stanza 2: I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
Stanza 4: But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Stanza 5: If I’d known, I was paving the way
Stanza 7: But now comes the reckonin’
It’s me they are beckonin’

6. Anaphora – when two consecutive lines start with the same word
Stanza 6: And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,

7. Onomatopoeia – the use of sound words
Stanza 6: And his drill it do whine,

8. Personification – when an inanimate object or an animal is given a human attribute
Stanza 6: And his drill it do whine,

9. Imagery – the creation of an image in the reader’s mind
Stanza 5: If I’d known, I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s
Injections and drillin’s,
 
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Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth Question Answer

Exercises

Q1. On the basis of your reading of the poem, complete the following table.

Ans.

Q2. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.
(a) The title ‘Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth’ expresses __________.
(i) regret
(ii) humour
(iii) longing
(iv) pleasure
Ans. (i) regret

(b) The conscience of the speaker pricks her as she has __________.
(i) been careless
(ii) been ignorant
(iii) been fun loving
(iv) been rude
Ans. (i) been careless

(c) The speaker says that she has paved the way for cavities and decay by __________.
(i) eating the wrong food and not brushing.
(ii) not listening to her mother
(iii) laughing at her mother’s false teeth
(iv) not listening to the dentist
Ans. (i) eating the wrong food and not brushing.

(d) The tone of the narrator is one of __________.
(i) joy
(ii) nostalgia
(iii) regret
(iv) sorrow
Ans. (iii) regret

Q3. Answer the following questions.
1. “…But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time-I could bite!”
What do these lines convey?
Ans. As a child she didn’t take care of her teeth. She thought that brushing the teeth, poking toothpicks to remove food particles and spending time in caring for the teeth was a waste of time. She could bite and chew well and so thought that her teeth were fine and that there was no need of wasting time in caring for them.

2. Why did the poet go to the dentist? How could she have avoided it?
Ans. The poet went to the dentist due to tooth decay-cavities for filling and drilling. She could avoid it by avoiding eating the wrong food and brushing properly.

3. “If you got a tooth, you got a friend”, what do you understand from the line?
Ans. The line means that teeth are like friends-they look after our good health. They are one of the precious gifts given to us by God.

4. With reference to the poem, how can you look after your teeth?
Ans. According to the poem, we can look after our teeth by avoiding wrong food, brushing properly and visiting the dentist regularly.

5. Give an appropriate proverb that conveys the message that this poem carries.
Ans. A good proverb for the poem is- “a stitch in time saves nine”. It is better to be careful than sorry; an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Q4. In line 35, the poet has misspelt the word ‘amalgum’. Why do you think she has done that? Discuss.
Ans. The poetess has misspelt the word ‘amalgam’ to ‘amalgum’. She has done this to imply that she was attracted to another type of candy called gum or chewing which is extremely chewy and sticky. Therefore, it is a kind of a pun.
 
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