English P1- The Thought-Fox Flashcards
Theme
The fox is the poem and the poem is the fox
The fox represents the creature or writing process
Alliteration, punctuation and repetition
Help us understand the flow of the writing process
Title
Not just an ordinary fox
Imaginary
“I”
Voice is the poet himself
“Something else is alive”
In addition to the poet
“clock’s loneliness”
Personification to highlight how late it is
“And this blank page where my fingers move.”
Starting to write
Stanza 2
Suggests that what he sees may be dangerous or scary
Colon
Explain
“Something more near/ Though deeper within darkness”
Links with the idea of that stars which are also in darkness but this is closer
“Though deeper within darkness”
Personal
Close
Stanza 1 and 2
Describe the external (and some of the internal) environment
“Cold”
Environment
“delicately”
Vulnerable by coming out of the dark
Could be damaged or lost
Glimpse of what he could write about
“snow”
Represent a blank page
“A fox”
Discover what the thing is
“Two eyes serve a movement, that now/And again now, and now, and now/Sets new prints into the snow”
Enjambment
Repetition of now
Slowly getting the idea out
Stilted
“Set neat prints”
Word appearing on the page
Warily
Cautious
“lame”
Feeble or weak idea
“Shadow”
Making the dark image of the fox more clear
“Shadow lags by stump and in hollow”
Still partially in the forest
“Of body that is bold to come”
Suggest it will be bold when it comes out (fox and idea)
“Across clearings”
Closed some type of threshold in his mind
So close now
“greeness”
Idea is taking life and growing in the poet’s mind
“Brilliantly, concentratedly”
Doesn’t see the full fox yet, just the eyes
“Coming about its own business”
Fox is doing what foxes do and poet is doing what poets should do
Line 21-24
1 stanza
“Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox”
Sensory and imagery
Poet becomes confident in using figures of speech
“Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox/It enters the dark hole of the head”
The idea has run across and is in the mind of poet
Fox has crossed the clearing and made it back to its lair
Gap
Used to specifically emphasize the last two line
“The window is starless still; the clock tick,”
Full circle
Semi-colon
What happens next
“It enters the dark hole of the head./ The page is printed.”
Climax of the poem
