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READ THIS
This is a poem about writing a poem. Its action appears to take place in a room late at night
where the poet is sitting alone at his desk. But the poet senses a presence in his mind which
disturbs him.
The presence appears at first in the darkness beyond his thoughts but it slowly takes shape like
a fox in the night and eventually becomes real as a poem inside his mind.
ABOUT THE POET
Ted Hughes was born in 1930 in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire. His early years were lived in a rural
setting where he learnt the love of nature and its creatures.
He would later study at Cambridge University where he and some fellow students produced a poetry
journal. It was at the launch of this journal that he met the American poet, Sylvia Plath, whom he soon
married.
Hughes believed that poetry and magic were intertwined. Each is a healer. Each is the means to
transport the human spirit from the dark, subconscious side of human nature into the world of light and
well-being.
Poetry therefore lies in the world of creation, in the world of everyday miracles. It is the pathway into the
realm of the imagination, the journey into the inner universe and exploration of the genuine self.
The modern world, said Hughes, overvalues the rational, objective side of human nature. Such beliefs
cause fear and pain. Healing and renewal, on the other hand, are the true purpose of poetry and magic.
The poet is therefore a shaman -- a magical medicine man who makes journeys to the underworld of
the subconscious to bring back lost souls.
His wife, Sylvia Plath, committed suicide in February 1963 and her death affected Hughes profoundly.
It would take four years before he published again -- and this collection contained some truly bleak
poems.
Hughes died of a heart attack in October 1998 while undergoing treatment for colon cancer. He was then
68 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come."
- Why are the "prints" in the snow said to be "neat"? (4)
[Need help?]
The term "neat" means "precise" or "clearly defined".
The snow is soft and the prints carefully placed, taking on a distinctive form, perfectly outlined or
"neat".
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- Are these prints solely those set by the fox walking through the snow? (4)
[Need help?]
Well, no. It's a fox of the imagination, remember. The poet, however, is writing a poem and this he is
doing with ink on a sheet of blank white paper.
The white paper therefore represents the white snow, and the fox's prints on the snow represent the black
words written in ink upon the white paper.
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- Why does the poet refer to the "lame shadow"? (4)
[Need help?]
We are again confronted with two possible meanings. In the first, the fox is wary, proceeding slowly and
hesitatingly, hiding when he reaches the tree stumps.
On the other hand, the fox is a creature of the poet's imagination. It is not yet a fully developed thought,
however, and so the thought itself advances hesitatingly.
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"Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed."
- Contrast the words "sudden sharp hot stink of fox" with the description of the fox which has
come in the earlier stanzas. (4)
[Need help?]
Up until now, we have only had a vague picture of the fox, cold and shadowy in the dark night of the poet's
mind.
Suddenly, however, the creature becomes a fully developed thought. It is no longer cold and dark but is
now clearly outlined ("sharp"), real ("hot") and excites more than one sense (it has a "hot
stink")
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- Explain the poet's choice of words, "It enters the dark hole of the head". (4)
[Need help?]
This is, of course, the climax of the poem. In real life, the fox would have entered the dark hole of its den
but, because it is a thought-fox, the completed thought enters the poet's head.
It has become real. It has become a poem.
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- Why is the window "starless still" and why does the clock still tick? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet has come full circle. The poem began with him looking through a window into the starless dark
and with the clock ticking. That's where it now ends. There is no change except that the poet has
completed his poem.
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- Comment on the last line as a completion of the poem. (4)
[Need help?]
The last line is indeed the climax of the poem. The thought has been growing in strength, has been taking
on life.
Now it is finished. The poem has been written. It has taken on its own life. It has now been printed on
a sheet of paper, and indeed published in a book.
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