Notes For All Chapters English Literature Class 9
In ‘Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth’, Pam Ayres expresses regret that she had not taken care of her teeth. Nor did she spot the ‘perils’beneath them. ‘All the toffees’, ‘sticky food’, ‘gobstoppers’, liquorice ’and ‘Sherbet dabs ’of which she was so fond of when she was young, ‘paved the way for all kinds of ailments of teeth. Now she has developed cavities, caps and decay in her teeth. She used to laugh at her mother s false teeth but it is her own turn now. She wishes she’d spent her shilling on buying better things than lollies, candies and toffees.
Regrets Neglecting Teeth
The poet regrets neglecting her teeth. She could not spot the ‘perils’ which were growing ‘beneath’ them. She was fond of chewing toffees and eating sticky food. And this had done all the damage. Once she had more healthy teeth but later on they decayed and fillings replaced the genuine ones. She repents having eaten hard sweet like gobstoppers. Not only that she continued licking lollies and picking all sort of liquorice and sherbet dabs (tiny sweets).
Conscience Got Pricked
The poet’s conscience got pricked at the decay of her teeth. There is no doubt that “she showed them the toothpaste all right”. She did try to brighten them and checked them carefully. But it was too late and too little. Actually, she paved the way for all kinds of ailments of teeth.
Cavities, Caps and Decay
The poet had to pay a high price for neglecting her teeth. By doing so, she prepared a ground for cavities, caps and decay in her teeth. She had to resort to fillings, injections and drilling. If she had known it earlier, she would have thrown all her sweets and candies away.
In Old Dentist’s Chair
The result of her neglect was quite disastrous. She had to lie in the old dentist’s chair. She gazed up his nose in despair. She had to suffer the whining of the drill machine in her molars. There was a time when she laughed at the false teeth of her mother. But now the time of reckoning has come. It is her turn now she will have to set those false teeth in the near future.
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