Critical Analysis of Ted Hughes's "Thought Fox" GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE

Critical Analysis

Ted Hughes’s “Thought Fox”

GCSE ENGLISH LITERATUREThe “Thought Fox” is a poem about the creative process and specifically about writing a poem. Ted Hughes metaphorically depicts literary inspiration as a fox that moves surreptitiously though the night. It is an extended metaphor. The fox metaphorically represents the inspiration.
The first stanza locates the poem late at night; the soft alliteration in the opening line “I imagine the midnight moment’s forest” creates a sense of silence. The poet is looking for inspiration and he rejects the traditional inspiration of the stars; “I see no star”. The rejection by the poet of the traditional muse of the stars is reiterated in the line “The window is starless still”. The juxtaposition of the “blank page” where the speaker’s “fingers move” emphasise the lack of inspiration and hence the lack of productivity.