ENG 151 Response Essay 1

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Dakota Martin
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Introduction to Literature
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University of Maine at Presque Isle
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09.30.2019
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From the naivety and sweetness of youth, to the ugliness of drugs and violence, to the
exhaustion of a tough life, the poem the Tooth Fairy experiences all of. In the poem, “The Tooth
Fairy” by Dorianne Laux, life is portrayed and shows just how quickly things can change. In
only a few stanzas Laux shows us how things changed for her and her parents’ relationship, and
the toll the years did to these relationships. The way a life can be summarized, and a simple
poem can hold so much meaning to an induvial story. When reading any type of literature, it is
not always clearly stated whether or not the piece is fiction or nonfiction, and sometimes you
have to dig deeper to discover the true meanings. When looking into the background and life of
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Dorianne Loax it was clear that the “Tooth Fairy” was a reflection of her life.
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Dorianne Laux, an American poet, was born in Augusta, Maine on January 10, 1952. She
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was a professor at the University of Oregon and North Carolina State University. Before
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receiving her bachelor’s degree Laux worked as a cook, gas station manager, and maid.
Currently, her and her husband live in Raleigh, North Carolina, and they are both American
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poets.
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Laux’s childhood is very exposed in the poem The Tooth Fairy. Before researching it was
unknown if the poem was just a piece of fiction or nonfiction. However, with research of Laux’s
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childhood the poem is relatable; her mother was a nurse and her father worked at a paper mill.
Her mother left her father and moved to California with her two daughters. Referencing the
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poem where it talks about the mother being a nurse working the grave yard shift and the father
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living alone, shows the relativeness to Dorianne’s Laux life. The poem was not an easy piece for
Laux to write or publish; it brought a lot of her personal life into the spotlight. The poem is
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nothing to be ashamed of; it is the harsh reality of what happens with some relationships and
families.
Unlike reading a story, poems are not as straightforward; there is a bit of a mystery to
them with hidden messages, double meanings and plot twists. There are so many parts to
understanding a poem, and words that need to be understood in order to process the message the
author is trying to put forth.
In poems, there are figures of speech, similes, metaphors, symbols, personification,
parallelism, and many more. Personification is giving living traits to nonliving things, which
Laux uses when she says, “a love so quiet, I still can’t hear it” (Laux, 2008). Laux also uses
symbols, figure of speech, and imagery. Imagery is making or creating a scene or imagine of
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something through words, best explained as “show, but do not tell.” Laux creates two scenes in
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this poem. One of these being the scene of her bedroom after the tooth fairy’s visits, where she
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brushed a quarter with glue and glitter and painted rows of delicate gold footprints on my sheets
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(Laux). When reading this an image of what her bed looked like is drawn in our heads, as well
as the image of her parents waiting for her to fall asleep, sitting at the kitchen table with him, a
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warm breeze lifting her embroidered curtains (Laux). The use of all these different types of
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poetic writing create so much meaning and content in a short poem.
In “The Tooth Fairy,” Laux shows us how quickly life changes, and how at one point
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everything seemed so simple and easy. When beginning to read this poem, the title “The Tooth
Fairy” puts a much different image in one’s mind about what this poem may be about. Although,
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the tooth fairy was involved in the poem, it was only a symbol. The tooth fairy was a symbol
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that reminded Laux of the time when everything was good, her parents’ marriage, her childhood,
and their home. The tooth fairy was not the important part but how her parents could portray
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themselves as a peaceful, quiet, content, and loving image for their daughter and put aside their
troubles and issues. Although, things soon changed. It shows how crazy it was to believe that
the same parents that once portrayed themselves as so peaceful were now tired, lonely, and
hurting. This image of her parents seemed like it was a lifetime ago.
Love can change into something ugly. The palms curled into fists, a floor of broken
dishes, the relationship of the parents turned into something that was unexpected, abuse and
hostile even though it one appeared so perfect. Her chain smoking through long silences, him
punching holes in his walls, both turning to a different way of escape and relief from the
struggles and sorrows of life, trying to mask their sorrows and angry with nicotine and anger
(Laux). The hidden messages of abuse that was occurring, not only domestically but as well as
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towards the children throughout the poem there were hidden cues. The daughter found her
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mother hiding in the closet with a paring knife (Laux). A paring knife is a normal kitchen knife
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used for cutting fruits and vegetables. The mother was scared and did not know any other way to
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protect herself or her children from the abuse. The night she found her mother in the closet with
the knife was the same night the father kicked her sister in the ribs (Laux). Living scared and
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afraid put a toll on all of them. Never really feeling safe around the same man, their father or
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husband whom once showed love and patience.
Through all the love and pain life played its toll on this family. They no longer have
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contact with their father. He lives alone in now in Oregon, dying of a rare bone disease (Laux).
Almost as though karma had paid it dues, the sum of a person’s actions was being returned to
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him/her.
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The end of the poem goes back to the childhood memory of patience and peacefulness, as
they were still trying to process how they were able to portray such a calming demeanor. She
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was constantly searching for an answer that she knew was not simple and that her mother could
not give her. Her mother responded with “I don’t know, we were as surprised as you (Laux,
2008)” . The fact that her mother was able to become something so loving and happy when she
was facing such pain was something she could not even put into words to explain to her
daughter. This was a real example of the struggles of marriage and how the end result is not
always what we hope for. With everything the family and relationship had become, that memory
still remained the same.
Researching about different interpretations and opinions of the poem “The Tooth Fairy”
was very insightful. There were different types of opinions on the poem some critiqued the
actually structure of the poem while others commented on the storyline. One said the poem the
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tooth fairy was a great example of specific details in poetry, using concrete language which is
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something you can experience with one or more of the five senses (Thea, 2012). The line in the
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poem “palms curled into fists, a floor of broken dishes was the example of concrete detail the
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critic used. Stating this was the way of displaying violence and fighting between her parent
rather than just saying my mother and father fought (Thea, 2012). The structure of the poem is
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what makes the storyline so intense and relatable. It is as though you are experiencing what Laux
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went though, due to the precise detail. Another critic talked about how much detail is in such
short amount of writing, how in the poem Laux describes her father in four lines and we
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immediately understand who he is and what he is like (Meg, 2013).
On an online post of the poem there were many reflective comments by anonymous
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readers. One reader states the poem took them from a bright joy to a deep sadness, which was
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surprising to them (Thea, 2012). Another state how love changes into something ugly and
sometimes does not get fixed yet leaves behind some sort of magic. One of my favorite
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reflections was “Laux can hold the magic of a moment and know that the sadness that came after
it was not the whole story of her parents’ lives. It is hard to reconcile the complexities of life, to
make peace with parts that don’t stand together, that shoot our theory (Thea, 2012).” The same
poem with the same words everyone reads yet they affect each of us differently.
Life can change so fast and so unexpectedly that we tend to take simple moments for
granted and forget how truly important the little things are. Everyone is always waiting for
someday, postponing the implementation of life plans until Monday, next week, or next year.
Weekdays are filled with moments. Some are memorable, and some are not, but all are
important. Few people remember that tomorrow might not even come, but today and yesterday
have, so enjoy the time you are given. The magic of a single moment, what memories, and
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meanings it can carry and knowing how things change in the blink of an eye. That single
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moment of magic the daughter remembered of her parents and the sadness that came after was
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only part of the story of her parents’ lives.
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References
Hamill, S. (2018, April 24). Dorianne Laux. Retrieved from
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/dorianne-laux
Laux, D. (2008, March 10). The Tooth Fairy. Retrieved from
https://voodooverse.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/the-tooth-fairy-dorianne-laux/
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Meg. (1970, January 01). What It Is. Retrieved from
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http://megpoetryone13.blogspot.com/2013/09/poetry-what-it-is.html
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Poets on Poetry: A Virtual Village of Discovery and Poetics. (2016, November 22). Retrieved
from https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/how-read-poem-0
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Thea, I. (2012, January 11). Write with Heart and Soul. Retrieved from
https://www.meetup.com/Write-with-Heart-and-Soul/messages/boards/thread/19396402
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m

author is trying to put forth.

In poems, there are figures of speech, similes, metaphors, symbols, personification,

poetic writing create so much meaning and content in a short poem.

husband whom once showed love and patience.

still remained the same.

immediately understand who he is and what he is like (Meg, 2013).

Hamill, S. (2018, April 24). Dorianne Laux. Retrieved from

Laux, D. (2008, March 10). The Tooth Fairy. Retrieved from

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