CBSE solutions for Class 9 English Course Communicative: Literature Reader chapter 3 - Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth [Latest edition]

Parents alone are responsible for inculcating a good sense of dental hygiene
amongst children. Do you agree/disagree? Discuss with your partner

Listen to the 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.

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'.
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.

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.

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 time-I could bite!
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.
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."
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.
About the Poet
Pam Ayres (1947- ) is a contemporary writer, a great entertainer who writes and performs
comic verse. She started writing poems and verses as a hobby and has appeared in every
major TV show in the U.K. She has published six books of poems, and cut seven record
albums including a collection of 50 best known poems.

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

On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following question
by ticking the correct choice.

The title 'Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth' expresses __________.

On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following question
by ticking the correct choice.

The conscience of the speaker pricks her as she has__________.

On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following question
by ticking the correct choice.

The speaker says that she has paved the way for cavities and decay by __________.

On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following question
by ticking the correct choice.

The tone of the narrator is one of ____________.

Answer the following question.
a) "…But up-and-down brushin'
And pokin' and fussin'
Didn't seem worth the time-I could bite!"
What do these lines convey?

Answer the following question.

Why did the poet go to the dentist? How could she have avoided it?

Answer the following question.

"If you got a tooth, you got a friend", what do you understand from the line?

Answer the following question.

With reference to the poem, how can you look after your teeth?

Answer the following question.

Give an appropriate proverb that conveys the message that this poem carries.

Toothache
Doki : Oh! I'm in agony. I didn't sleep a wink last night!
Moki : Why don't you go to a dentist?
Doki : Even thinking about the dentist's waiting room gives me the willies.
Moki : It's because you haven't been to a dentist for ages.
Doki: What a reassuring person you are!
Moki : I'm now going to get Mom. She'll only crack the whip and make you go to the
dentist.
Doki: No, No! I'd better go with you. At least you'd save me from going into the surgery.
Moki : I can only take the horse to the water but I can't make it drink! I'm sure, you're going
to turn tail and go home.
Doki: Don't worry, I shall be led quietly into the dentist like a lamb because my tooth is so
sore.
Moki : If that happens, I would believe that wonders will never cease!
Doki: I wish I had taken proper care of my teeth!
Moki : I wish you had paid attention to the discipline that Mom had laid for all of us!
Doki: Yeah! But past can't be undone. I have to reap what I had sown.

 Your teacher will read out the conversation between Doki and his
sister, Moki. As you listen complete the idioms and expressions listed below.(GIVEN ABOVE)
1. sleep…...….............………….
2. ………....……….me the willies
3. crack the…………..............….
4. take the……………….to water
5. …………...................…….tail.
6. wonders will……….........…….
7. ……………….can't be undone.
8. reap what I …………………….
Idioms are metaphorical expressions rather than literal. For example 'give someone
the willies' does not simply mean 'to handover something called willies to someone',
but 'to make someone feel nervous'. It is important for learners of English to
understand them and be able to use them.

Read the following statement and imagine you are Jack.
"I can't afford to, after what Jack's done to his teeth."
What is it, you think, you can not afford to do and why? Write a diary entry of not
less than 125 words.
(In-class activity; not to be set up as homework).

JUST THINK
 In line 35, the poet has misspelt the word 'amalgum'. Why do you think she has
done that? Discuss.
(The teacher should point out the use of 'me' instead of 'my' and other linguistic
variations that make the poem enjoyable.)