Thought Fox

"Thought Fox" is a poem by Ted Hughes, first published in 1957. The poem describes the process of inspiration and the act of writing as a fox, representing the imagination, comes to the speaker.

The fox, as the embodiment of inspiration, slips quietly and stealthily into the speaker's mind as he sits at his desk, and the speaker is aware of the fox's presence before he sees it. The fox's appearance is described in vivid, animalistic terms: "a sudden sharp hot stink of fox" and "a small flame, orange and black, jumps with a foxy cry" The fox, being the embodiment of inspiration, represents the creative process; the process of writing poetry, the fox as the embodiment of the imagination and the act of writing, The fox's presence is a powerful and transformative experience for the speaker, and the poem itself is a product of that experience.
The poem is considered a classic of modern poetry and is admired for its imagery and its exploration of the creative process. It is also a great representation of Hughes's style, which often draws on the natural world and the relationship between humans and animals.

“I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Besides the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.”

• "I imagine this midnight moment's forest" - The speaker is sitting at his desk at night and begins by imagining a forest.
• "Something else is alive / Beside the clock's loneliness" - The speaker is aware of a presence other than his own, something that is alive and coexisting with the loneliness of the ticking clock.
• "And this blank page where my fingers move" - The speaker's fingers are moving on a blank page, suggesting that he is in the process of writing.

“Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:”

• ·"Through the window I see no star" - The speaker looks out the window but sees no stars, suggesting a sense of isolation.
• "Something more near / Though deeper within darkness / Is entering the loneliness" - The presence of inspiration, embodied by the fox, is entering the speaker's mind, despite the darkness outside.

“Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now”

• "Cold, delicately as the dark snow / A fox's nose touches twig, leaf" - The fox's presence is described as cold and delicate, like snow, and its nose is described as touching twigs and leaves.
• "Two eyes serve a movement, that now / And again now, and now, and now" - The fox's two eyes are described as serving a movement, suggesting that it is moving with purpose.

“Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come”

• "Sets neat prints into the snow / Between trees, and warily a lame / Shadow lags by stump and in hollow / Of a body that is bold to come" - The fox's movements are described as setting neat prints into the snow and it is described as being lame and warily moving by stumps and in hollows.

“Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business”

• "Across clearings, an eye, / A widening deepening greenness, / Brilliantly, concentratedly, / Coming about its own business" - The fox's eye is described as having a widening and deepening greenness, suggesting that it is focused and determined.

“Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.”

• "Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox / It enters the dark hole of the head" - The fox's presence is described as entering the speaker's mind, represented by the "dark hole of the head".
• "The window is starless still; the clock ticks, / The page is printed" - The window is still starless, the clock is still ticking, and the page is now filled with writing, suggesting that the fox's presence has been a transformative experience for the speaker.

In conclusion, the poet describes the creative process of writing. The poem concludes with the image of the fox, a symbol for inspiration and creativity, disappearing into the night, leaving the speaker alone with his thoughts. This can be interpreted as the end of the creative process, with the speaker having successfully captured the inspiration and ideas that the fox represented.