A Little Tooth By Thomas Lux: Poem Analysis

In the poem, “A Little Tooth” written by Thomas Lux, Lux uses enjambment. Enjambment is defined as moving from one line to another without terminating the punctuation mark. (Enjambment, 2017). It can also be defined as a phrase that does not come to an end with a line break, it moves to the next line. (Enjambment, 2017). Lux`s technique is unique for the reader. The first thing that I noticed about the poem is that it was easy to follow. The poem was an easy transitional read. When I first read the poem, I didn’t notice the effect the enjambment style had until I re-read the poem. I was focused on the message that the poem was offering. The use of enjambment by Lux serves as an easy to follow life cycle to the reader. It allows the poem to flow flawlessly, while keeping the readers attention and the message of the poem clear. Although personally I find enjambment easy to follow some readers may not. The line breaks, such as “she`ll fall in love with cretins, dolts, a sweets talker on his way to jail”, can cause some readers issues. Some readers of this style might find that it is hard to follow. They might find it hard to follow

It is easy to read the road not taken and to miss the deeper message. The quality of the writing and poem style could deceive the reader. Literary scholar David Orr states that this poem is over simplified. (Plunket, 2015). Orr writes that “the road not taken is neither an ode nor a dark joke, but somehow both”. (Plunket, 2015). Orr described The Road Not Taken as “overlapping ghosts. (Plunket, 2015). Orr`s argument for this is that the poem can almost be broken into two separate poems that overlap throughout the poem. (Plunket, 2015). One poem focusing on one road, and the second on the other road. I agree with Orr in that I believe the poem is over simplified and that there is a deeper message in the