Explain the use of enjambment in Thomas Lux's poem "A Little Tooth." In other words, what is the effect of Lux choosing to break the lines in his poem...

The
enjambment in Thomas Lux's poem, "A Little Tooth," serves several purposes. For
example, in the phrase, "It's all / over," beginning on the last line of the first
stanza and concluding on the first line of the second stanza, the word "over" is
emphasized because of the pause that precedes it, created by the line break. This emphasis helps
to convey the finality of the phrase, and, in the context of the poem, the finality of the end
of the baby's first stage of life. The pause between "It's all" and "over"
might also suggest the speaker's reluctance to let go of their baby's first stage of life. It's
as if the speaker, as the baby's father, wants to hold in his mind for as long as possible the
memories of those precious first years of his baby's life.

In the second
stanza, there is enjambment of the phrase, "she'll fall / in love." The enjambment
here suggests the sense of time seeming to pass so quickly, from the perspective of a parent
watching his child grow up. At one moment the child is still a toddler, learning to walk and
falling over when she loses her balance, and the next moment the child is a teenager, falling
"in love with cretins." When the clause, "she'll fall / in love" is
interrupted after "fall," having followed the clause, "she'll learn some
words," the reader will naturally assume that the "fall" describes the fall of a
toddler learning to walk. However, the word "fall" immediately takes on a completely
different, metaphorical meaning when it is continued on the next line, and followed with the
words, "in love." Thus, in the time it takes to read the full clause, the reader will
have processed both interpretations, mirroring the feeling that the father has, in hindsight,
that his daughter has grown up so quickly.

There is another example of
enjambment in the third stanza, where the phrase, "rue / nothing" begins at the end of
the first line and continues at the beginning of the second. The pause at the end of the first
line, after the word "rue," implies for a moment that the parents regret the time that
has passed. However, when the phrase is continued on the next line, the reader understands that
the parents actually regret "nothing." The initial surprise of the completely
different meaning, in combination with the slight pause created by the line break, helps to make
the idea that the parents have no regrets all the more emphatic.