The Awful Dentist BY JWANI MWAIKUSA Selected Poems by Tanzania Institute of Education
The Awful Dentist BY JWANI MWAIKUSA
He read medicine, Specializing in the tooth, And graduated, with honors With new thesis
To cure the aching malady. “Our teeth shall be all right!”
People chanted, welcoming his services. And he started work, prompt and immediate. They brought him all the teeth they had- Decaying teeth, aching teeth, strong teeth.
And he started working on their jaws Diligently pulling out every tooth From the jaws of every mouth,
And they paid him with meat Which now they could not eat.
And so on went the dentist Making heaps and heaps of teeth Useless. Laying them waste Without fear that soon,
Very soon indeed,
He would have no teeth to attend to,
No tooth for which to call himself a dentist.
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
Qn 1. What is the poem all about?
Answ: The poem is all about incompetent doctor (dentist) who fails to cure people’s diseases despite being trained as a professional doctor. This might symbolize the problems associated with formal education that there is too much theory taught and very little application of those theories to real life problems.
Qn 2. What kind of a poem is this?
Answ: This is a narrative poem; the poet is telling us a story of incompetent doctor from during his studies, and then graduation up to his services and the effects of his services to the people.
Qn 3. What is the tone of the poem?
Answ: The tone of the poem is mockery, the persona is not happy with doctor’s service that is why he is teasing him (the doctor) and his services.
Qn 4. What is the mood of the poem?
Answ: The mood of the poem is very disappointing; it makes us feel very bad and disappointed with the doctor’s failure to cure people’s diseases.
Qn 5. Comment on the use of figures of speech and musical devices used in this poem. Answ: Musical devices.
Rhymes- The word “tooth” rhymes with “mouth”. The word “meat” rhymes with “eat”.
Rhythm.
This refers to the pattern of stress in speech; it can be regular or irregular. For example in the above poem, the word “Useless” is run on from the previous line and stands on its own on the next line followed by a full stop. This gives extra prominence to the word.
Qn 6. what are the possible themes of the poem?
Answ: The possible themes of this poem include illusion, incompetency, the problem of formal education, disappointment (disillusion) and betrayal.
(i) Illusion.
Refers to the false idea or belief especially about somebody or about a situation. In simple words illusion means a false or unreal perception. In this poem it is shown that people have illusion that after the coming of the doctor, they will be free from various dental diseases. This is evidenced in the poem when the persona narrates:
“Our teeth shall be all right!”
People chanted, welcoming his services.
This was just people’s dream which could not come true as the doctor ended up disappointing the people as he failed to cure their diseases.
(ii) Incompetency.
This refers to the lack of skill or ability to do your job or a task as it should be done. In this poem the doctor (dentist) is shown to be incompetent (not competent) of curing the aching malady despite being a University graduate. Instead of helping people, he even causes them further serious problems. Consider the following verses:
“And so on went the dentist Making heaps and heaps of teeth Useless. Laying them waste….”
(iii) Disappointment (Disillusion)
Disillusion is the state whereby a person becomes disappointed because the person you admired or the idea you believed to be good and true now seems to have no value and you can no longer attain your goals. In this poem, people are very disappointed when they realize that the doctor is unable to solve their problems. They are completely disappointed by the poor services from the doctor who instead of helping them, he even causes them further serious problems.
(iv) Betrayal.
This also can be found as one of the themes in this poem. This is evidenced in the poem following doctor’s failure to cure people’s diseases. The doctor betrays his people by failing to meet their demands as expected by many and even causing them greater problems.
(v) Problem of formal education.
This is also one of the most prominent (important) themes found in this poem. In the poem it is shown that, the doctor is a University graduate who graduated with honours, but funny enough despite being trained as a professional doctor, he fails to cure people’s problems and causing them greater problems. This indicates the problems associated with formal education that there is too much theory taught and very little application of those theories to real life problems.