Write a full note on the animal imagery used by Hughes in 'The Thought Fox'.

The poem is an extended metaphor whereby Hughes uses the
mysteroius, wild and unpredictable fox as a comparison with the poet's writing
process.

There is tension and anticipation in the blank
snow outside the writer's window and the blank page in front of him. The notion that
there is 'something more near' grasps the attention of the reader and the
writer.

The fox - like the idea - remains indistinct though
clearly felt and anticipated due to Hughes' ability to arouse the senses. The
enjambement used between the third and fourth stanzas serves to speed up the pace of the
writing, the animal and the idea which is being formed.

The
opening lines of the final stanza condense the metaphor fully as the idea and the fox
become one-

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Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox

It enters the dark hole of the
head.

The idea and the
writing produced remain as independent and unique as the fox
itself-

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Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming
about its own business

This
image serves to remind us of the wild unpredictability of the  creative muse of the
writer and the untamed spirit of pure poetry.