The Theme of Nature in The Thought-Fox and Roe-Deer

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The Theme of Nature in The Thought-Fox and Roe-Deer

Various poems by Ted Hughes explore the world of nature and describe

the power and mystery of animals. Two particular poems that convey Ted

Hughes' theme of nature are the celebrated 'The Thought-Fox' and 'Roe

Deer'.

When Ted Hughes was only a young boy, he had a love for animals as "he

spent a good deal of time hunting and trapping". At the age of about

fifteen, Hughes' "attitude towards animals changed." He "accused"

himself "of disturbing their lives." And ever since then, he began to

look at them "from their own point of view."

This led to him beginning writing about animals in his poetry shortly

after he began writing poetry.

Hughes realized from an early time, well before he wrote his first

animal poem that the hunting that he did so much was similar to his

thought process, "the slightly mesmerized and quite involuntary

concentration with which you make out the stirrings of a new poem in

your mind, then the outline, the mass and colour and clean final form

of it, the unique living reality of it in the midst of general

lifelessness." And then the poem created from that thought process was

"a new species of creature, a new specimen of life outside your own".

This was his way of equating a poem.

'The Thought-Fox itself is very similar to Hughes' idea of creating

all poems. The poet personifies his thoughts by using a fox.

The poem is an analogy as well as a metaphor. The thought process and

progression to writing is compared to a fox alone in the wilderness

creeping up on you out of the darkness into the light.

The coldness, the snow doesn't move i.e. it is ...

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completely with a blanket of snow.

The deer run into the fields 'Towards tree dark' which could mean that

they disappear into the woods and also the dark. They seem to

disappear completely leaving no signs behind. All evidence of the deer

is taken away, 'The snow took them and soon their nearby hoofprints as

well'

The alliteration used in 'boil of big flakes' gives a sense of the

enormity of snow.

When Hughes loses sight of the deer, everything turns 'Back to the

ordinary.' He feels inspired to return to his own world having had an

incredible encounter.

Both poems use the theme of nature to show us how powerful the natural

world can be whether you're experiencing it (in Roe-Deer) or imagining

it (in The Thought-Fox). The surroundings can be compared to things

that humans do in their everyday lives.

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