The Power of Imagination in "The Thought-Fox" Amelie Maurice-Jones 12th Grade

In ‘The Thought-Fox’, Ted Hughes explores the transformative power of the imagination through the extended image of an imagined ‘fox’’ roaming through foliage post-midnight. Indeed, the poem might be read as an ode to beasts through putting a tender and gentle spin on descriptions of a ‘fox’- an animal generally perceived as beastly and intensely violent. Nonetheless, upon further examination the poem reads as a testament to the power and creativity of the imagination which is able to conceive of vivid images that are, in fact, faux.

Throughout ‘The Thought-Fox’, Hughes challenges perceptions of animals as primitive and aggressive through the extended description of a ‘fox’ which is described with a tone of both beauty and tenderness. Such is immediately demonstrated through the simile ‘delicately as the dark snow/ A fox’s nose touches twig, leaf’, with the plosive alliteration of ‘delicately’ and ‘dark’ mirroring the careful and lithe movements of the fox. Furthermore, the brief syndetic list of ‘twig, leaf’ conveys the onlooker’s perspective of rapidly trying to digest the wondrous sight from his window. Indeed, alliteration links much of the language throughout from ‘sets’ and ‘snow, to ‘midnight’ and ‘moment’, to ‘body’ and...