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Question
Explain the extended metaphor related to dentistry in the poem.
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Solution
The poet has compared the skill and precision of the planners with that of a dentist. This comparison starts with the
They erase the flaws,
the blemishes of the past, knock off
useless blocks with dental dexterity.
All gaps are plugged.
with gleaming gold.
The country wears perfect rows
of shining teeth.
Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis.
They have the means.
They have it all so it will not hurt.
so history is new again.
The piling will not stop.
The drilling goes right through
the fossils of the last century.
A comparison of this kind which continues through a series of lines and forms a dominant part of the poem is known as an Extended Metaphor.
The poet says that the planners erase the flaws and blemishes of the past, just like a dentist removes the imperfections and stains from the teeth. The planners even knock off useless blocks the same way a dentist would extract a rotten tooth because it doesn't serve its purpose anymore. The skillful uprooting of the past by the planners has been compared to the expertise possessed by a dentist. The poet goes on to say that like the dentist, the planners, too, plug the gaps of the city with gleaming gold, that is, they build glassy skyscrapers which are so flawlessly aligned, that they resemble perfect rows of shining teeth. The poet further adds that the planners also have the means to anaesthetise the people, so that they don't feel the pain of their history being taken away from them, which is similar to the dentist using anesthesia to numb the sensation during a dental procedure. Even the drilling is done for building new structures is compared to the drilling done by a dentist to remove all that is old and unwanted, just like the planners remove the traces of history by digging right through the fossils of the last century. The planners and the dentists perform similar tasks of replacing the old with the new and substituting imperfections for artificial perfection.
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