OH, I WISH I’D LOOKED AFTER ME TEETH
4. 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
Answer : (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
Answer: (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 his mother
(iii) laughing at his mother’s false teeth
(iv) not listening to the dentist
Answer : (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
Answer : (iii) regret
5. Answer the following questions:
(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 : These lines shows that the poet not realise the importance of regular brushing and proper hygiene, when she was child. She did not care for her teeth daily. She thought it was useless and worthless to clean her teeth after eating anything.
(b) Why did the poet go to the dentist? How could she have avoided it?
Answer : The poet went to the dentist to get her teeth examined. She had developed cavities in her teeth due to unhealthy eating habits and irregular brushing of teeth.
She could have avoided it if she had taken proper care of her teeth by brushing them properly and regularly.
(c) “If you got a tooth, you got a friend.” What do you understand from the line?
Answer : A tooth is like a friend. As a lost friend can never be regained, a lost tooth can never grows again. It cannot be regained or made naturally.
(d) With reference to the poem, how can you look after your teeth?
Answer : (i) Brushing proper twice a day.
(ii) Rinsing after each meal, avoiding sweet and sticky food for better oral hygiene.
(iii) Regular dental checkup to maintain healthy teeth.
(e) Given an appropriate proverb that conveys the message that this poem carries.
Answer : Appropriate proverb that conveys the message that this poem carried is“Prevention is better than cure."
Q7. In line 35 the poet has miss-spelt the word ‘amalgum’. Why do you think she has done that? Discuss.
Answer: This mistake of ‘amalgum’ is a conscious one by the poetess. She wants us to read it so because –
-She wanted us to be conscious about the horrible outcome of carelessness about teeth resulting in amalgamation.
-This is deliberately to attract the children who love chewing gums as the word ends in ‘gum’
-This is used like “me teeth”, ‘me choppers” so that the readers will be attracted to the word thinking it to be wrong.
