The Thought Fox, Ted Hughes, Poem, Summary, Analysis, and Related Biographical Events

The Thought Fox, Ted Hughes, Poem, Summary, Analysis, and Related Biographical Events

In Nutshell: With his fingers poised over a blank paper, the speaker sits by himself in the solitude of a winter night. The poem is finished when the fox enters the speaker's head after leaping across the snow and appearing outside the window, at which time the "page is printed." This "thought fox" can be seen as a metaphor for inspiration and original thought, both of which appear to originate from an unidentified source outside of the speaker's conscious awareness. The Thought Fox: Original Text Stanza 1 I imagine this midnight moment’s forest: Something else is alive Beside the clock’s loneliness And this blank page where my fingers move. Stanza 2 Through the window I see no star: Something more near Though deeper within darkness Is entering the loneliness: Stanza 3 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 Stanza 4 Sets neat prints into the snow Between trees, and warily a lame …