The poem, “The Thought Fox”, by Ted Hughes examines the process of writing before and after the words are printed. Hughes explores this concept with images of a forest and a fox, or rather, as an idea rattling around a desolate brain, until finally, it comes about in its own business free of criticism and onto the page. The poem also examines the moments before and after these images, which Hughes writes as cyclical bookends underlining the loneliness of writing. The piece begins and ends with a starless sky. But Hughes makes the argument that those lonesome moments before the fox are worth it for the green forest, and for the printed page.
The writer, the speaker of the story, sits at his desk where the lonely clock ticks. He imagines a “midnight moment’s forest” (Hughes 1) and feels something else is alive where his blank page lay, and where his fingers move. Though he sees no star, he feels something more near. The writer, possibly Hughes himself, feels that deeper within the darkness, something enters his loneliness. He describes it as a fox, “Cold delicately as the dark snow” (Hughes 9) it touches its nose to the twigs and leaf in the forest outside his window. However, the writer can only tell its movement from the bright of its eyes. Until, “now, and now, and now” (Hughes 12), it plants its prints into the snow. …show more content…
While this poem may not be directly related to the writing process, I feel Hughes and Roethke may have had similar opinions on the origins of creativity. Hughes talks of a thought as “Coming about its own business” (line 20); Similarly, Roethke talks about coming to learn (or write) just by showing up. These two would seem to think creativity is an arbitrary bombshell coming about on its own, and in order to find it, the writer must allow it to come, either by racking your brain by a blank page, or by going, just going; And aren’t they the
The writer, the speaker of the story, sits at his desk where the lonely clock ticks. He imagines a “midnight moment’s forest” (Hughes 1) and feels something else is alive where his blank page lay, and where his fingers move. Though he sees no star, he feels something more near. The writer, possibly Hughes himself, feels that deeper within the darkness, something enters his loneliness. He describes it as a fox, “Cold delicately as the dark snow” (Hughes 9) it touches its nose to the twigs and leaf in the forest outside his window. However, the writer can only tell its movement from the bright of its eyes. Until, “now, and now, and now” (Hughes 12), it plants its prints into the snow. …show more content…
While this poem may not be directly related to the writing process, I feel Hughes and Roethke may have had similar opinions on the origins of creativity. Hughes talks of a thought as “Coming about its own business” (line 20); Similarly, Roethke talks about coming to learn (or write) just by showing up. These two would seem to think creativity is an arbitrary bombshell coming about on its own, and in order to find it, the writer must allow it to come, either by racking your brain by a blank page, or by going, just going; And aren’t they the