The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes Flashcards

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1
Q

Language Techniques

A
  • Extended metaphor of a fox.
  • Fox symbolises the creeping mystery of a creative thought, poetry itself; art.

-Imagery
-nature imagery produced through Hughes’ use of vivid and precise details of a natural fox.
-pun of the last line produces a dramatic double take,
“The page is printed.”
-fox is a metaphor for the pleasurable shock of the emergence of a poem.

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2
Q

Form/Structure

A
  • First person, dramatic monologue written in the present tense which has a quietly dramatic effect.
  • Six short stanzas quietly half rhyming.
  • Quartets with lines of either tetrameters or pentameters. The effect is again controlled.
  • Poem has the stress-based rhythmical simplicity of a Modern poet.
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3
Q

Mood

A

The mood of this poem is interesting, there is a sense of tension throughout the poem as the speaker waits for an exciting thought, and almost a sense of relief at the end of the poem as the poet gains the inspiration he had been searching for.

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4
Q

Subject

A

The speaker is up late one night, struggling to find artistic inspiration, when suddenly a fox appears in the window in front of him, leaving little footprints in the snow, and suddenly he is flooded with ideas.

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5
Q

Context

A

-Written 1957 in a dreary London flat at a time of little inspiration.

  • Inspiration came from a dream Hughes had that came after a long night trying to complete a critical essay.
  • A fox appeared in his room at Cambridge and placed a bloody paw on the blank page in front of him, leaving a blood print and spoke.
  • The fox said the words, “Stop this. You are destroying us.”
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