Langston Hughes Thought Fox Analysis

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Hughes portrays uses the poems “Thought-Fox” and “Horses” as a way to highlight the power of the imagination and how carefully entwined it is with nature. He brings to light the awakening power of nature and also how it links in with the process of inspiration and creation. Hughes portrays the fox as a figment of his imagination, a thought that he transforms into poem. He begins the poem with “I imagine” which suggests that the forest is not real, it is simply a metaphor for the night and the outside world. However, the forest can also be interpreted as his mind and the fox as a thought wandering within it. In “Thought-Fox” the initial presentation of the fox is very vague, it is described as “something” and then Hughes begins to place focus …show more content…

In “Thought-Fox” it is a “widening deepening greenness”, not only is green the colour of creation but the adjectives used imply that it is growing and becoming more profound as it deepens. The gradual arrival of the idea and therefore the arrival of the awakening is highlighted in the sentence “Brilliantly, concentrated/ Coming about”, this also emphasises the feelings that the awakening brings with it. The “sharp hot stink” is also an awakening of some sorts although it is more surprising and dramatic. The idea of awakening is also mirrored in “Horses” where the “steaming and glistening under the flow of light” evokes an ethereal image and one of a new dawn. The descriptions of the imminent arrival of “horizons” in “The Jaguar” also highlight the awakening and almost hopeful power of imagination, it is the way the jaguar escapes and is awakened and inspired. The poem ends with a sense of hope for the future which again highlights the weight of imagination and how it can change a being’s view on life. In contrast, it is a darkening that is described in “Second Glance at Jaguar”, in turning away from the power of the imagination and giving up hope, the jaguar enters the “underworld”. Hughes presents life as cyclical and endless in when he compares it to a “prayer wheel” as there is no inspiration and therefore no changes to daily routine or any attempts at

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