Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
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.
Solution
Do it yourself
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
The angel wrote and vanished.
The next night, It came again with a great wakening light,
And show's the names whom love of God had blest,
And Lo! Bin Adhem's name led all the rest.
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
What did Adhem beg the angel to write about him?
It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridge head 3 beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.’’Where do you come from?” I asked him.
“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.
“I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.
“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.”
He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, “What animals were they?”
“Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did the old man leave his hometown? Why did he leave it reluctantly?
What was the inscription on the golden casket? How do the actions of the martlet illustrate this inscription?
How should we view the past and the future? what advice does the past give in this context?
What, according to this speaker, is the only true religion in the world? What human qualities have I been highlighted through 'his' speech?
Fill in the blank to name a different kind of intelligence. One has been done for you.
When I enjoy listening to people and solving their problems I use my interpersonal intelligence
When I enjoy looking at maps and examining pictures, I use my ___________ intelligence.
What does the rebel do?
In the short story, Quality, what causes the death of the younger Gessler brother?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Caesar: | Are we all ready? What is now amiss, That Caesar and his Senate must redress? |
Metellus: | Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar, Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat A humble heart, .... [He kneels] |
- Where are the speakers?
What does ‘puissant’ mean?
Explain: ‘Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat a humble heart’. [3] - At the beginning of the scene, Caesar says, ‘The Ides of March are come.’
Why do you think Caesar said this?
What does the Soothsayer say in response? [3] - What specific duties do the conspirators allot to Trebonius and Casca?
Why does Cassius become nervous when Popilius Lena speaks to him as they enter? [3] - What does Artemidorus want of Caesar?
How does Caesar respond to his plea? [3] - Shortly after this exchange, Caesar is stabbed to death by the conspirators. Whom do you sympathise with — Julius Caesar or the conspirators? Give reasons for your choice. [4]
Complete the following sentence by providing a reason.
Beethoven amputated the legs of his piano because ______.