"The Thought Fox" was first published in the British poet Ted Hughes's debut collection, The Hawk in the Rain, in 1957. One of Hughes's most popular poems, "The Thought Fox" is about creativity, inspiration, and the process of writing poetry. The speaker, generally taken to be Hughes himself (or a version of him), sits alone during the dark quiet of a winter night, fingers poised over a blank page. A fox appears outside the window and makes a tentative but purposeful journey across the snow, before leaping and into the speaker's mind—at which point the "page is printed," and the poem is complete. This "thought fox" can be thought of as a metaphor for inspiration and creative thought, which seem to come from a mysterious place separate from the speaker's conscious mind. The poem treats the fox in mostly literal terms, however, and in doing so proves the power of poetry to bring new worlds—and creatures—to vivid life on the page.
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The Full Text of “The Thought Fox”
The Full Text of “The Thought Fox”
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“The Thought Fox” Summary
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“The Thought Fox” Themes
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Creativity, Inspiration, and Imagination
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-24
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Thought Fox”
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Lines 1-4
I imagine this ...
... my fingers move. -
Lines 5-8
Through the window ...
... entering the loneliness: -
Lines 9-10
Cold, delicately as ...
... touches twig, leaf; -
Lines 11-14
Two eyes serve ...
... Between trees, -
Lines 14-17
and warily a ...
... Across clearings, -
Lines 17-20
an eye, ...
... its own business -
Lines 21-24
Till, with sudden ...
... page is printed.
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“The Thought Fox” Symbols
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The Starless Night
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 5: “Through the window I see no star”
- Line 23: “The window is starless still”
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“The Thought Fox” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 1: “midnight moment's”
- Line 4: “my,” “move”
- Line 5: “see,” “star”
- Line 7: “deeper,” “darkness”
- Line 9: “delicately,” “dark”
- Line 10: “touches twig”
- Line 14: “lame”
- Line 15: “lags”
- Line 16: “body,” “bold”
- Line 19: “concentratedly,”
- Line 20: “Coming”
- Line 21: “sudden,” “stink”
- Line 22: “hole,” “head”
- Line 23: “starless still”
- Line 24: “page,” “printed”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “imagine this midnight”
- Line 4: “blank page”
- Line 8: “Is entering,” “loneliness”
- Line 9: “Cold,” “snow”
- Line 10: “fox's,” “nose”
- Line 13: “prints into”
- Line 14: “Between trees”
- Line 15: “Shadow lags,” “hollow”
- Line 16: “Of,” “body,” “bold”
- Line 18: “widening deepening greenness”
- Line 21: “hot,” “of ,” “fox”
- Line 23: “ticks”
- Line 24: “is printed”
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Asyndeton
Where asyndeton appears in the poem:- Line 10: “twig, leaf”
- Lines 17-20: “clearings, an eye, / A widening deepening greenness, / Brilliantly, concentratedly, / Coming”
- Lines 23-24: “The window is starless still; the clock ticks, / The page is printed.”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Line 9: “Cold, delicately”
- Line 10: “twig, leaf”
- Line 11: “movement, that”
- Line 12: “now, and now, and”
- Line 14: “trees, and”
- Line 17: “clearings, an”
- Line 19: “Brilliantly, concentratedly”
- Line 21: “Till, with”
- Line 23: “still; the”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “midnight moment's forest”
- Line 3: “Besides,” “clock's loneliness”
- Line 5: “see,” “star”
- Line 6: “Something”
- Line 7: “deeper,” “darkness”
- Line 8: “entering,” “loneliness”
- Line 9: “Cold, delicately,” “dark,” “snow”
- Line 10: “fox's,” “nose touches,” “twig”
- Line 11: “serve,” “movement”
- Line 13: “Sets neat prints,” “ into,” “snow”
- Line 14: “Between trees,” “warily,” “lame”
- Line 15: “lags,” “hollow”
- Line 16: “body,” “bold,” “come”
- Line 17: “Across clearings”
- Line 18: “widening deepening greenness”
- Line 19: “Brilliantly, concentratedly”
- Line 20: “Coming”
- Line 21: “Till,” “sudden,” “hot stink,” “fox”
- Line 22: “It enters,” “dark,” “hole,” “head”
- Line 23: “starless still,” “clock ticks”
- Line 24: “page,” “printed”
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End-Stopped Line
Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:- Line 1: “forest:”
- Line 4: “move.”
- Line 5: “star:”
- Line 8: “loneliness:”
- Line 9: “snow,”
- Line 10: “leaf;”
- Line 17: “eye,”
- Line 22: “head.”
- Line 24: “printed.”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 2-3: “alive / Besides”
- Lines 3-4: “loneliness / And”
- Lines 6-7: “near / Though”
- Lines 7-8: “darkness / Is”
- Lines 9-10: “snow, / A”
- Lines 11-12: “now / And”
- Lines 12-13: “now / Sets”
- Lines 13-14: “snow / Between”
- Lines 14-15: “lame / Shadow”
- Lines 15-16: “hollow / Of”
- Lines 16-17: “come / Across”
- Lines 17-18: “eye, / A”
- Lines 18-19: “greenness, / Brilliantly”
- Lines 19-20: “concentratedly, / Coming”
- Lines 20-21: “business / Till”
- Lines 21-22: “fox / It”
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Extended Metaphor
Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:- Line 1
- Line 2
- Lines 6-8
- Lines 9-22
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Line 3: “the clock's loneliness”
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 2: “Something”
- Line 3: “the clock's”
- Line 4: “this blank page”
- Line 5: “Through the window I see no star:”
- Line 6: “Something”
- Line 11: “now”
- Line 12: “And,” “now, and now, and now”
- Line 23: “The window is starless still; ”
- Lines 23-24: “the clock ticks, / The page is printed.”
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“The Thought Fox” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Warily
- Lame
- Lags
- Hollow
- Concentratedly
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(Location in poem: Lines 14-15: “and warily a lame / Shadow”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Thought Fox”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Thought Fox” Speaker
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“The Thought Fox” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Thought Fox”
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More “The Thought Fox” Resources
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External Resources
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"Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death" — Watch a BBC documentary about Hughes.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to Hughes read the poem himself and talk about the inspiration behind it.
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Hughes's Biography — Learn more about Hughes's life and work from the Poetry Foundation.
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Ted Hughes and the Art of Poetry — Read a 1995 Paris Review interview with the
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Ted Hughes
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