Comparative Poetry Essay - "The Thought Fox" and "Digging"

... Comparative Poetry Essay "The Thought Fox" and "Digging" are both poems which explore their respective authors' attitudes towards writing poetry. They both employ extended metaphors to this end, but their views differ greatly. Digging is by Seamus Heaney, and portrays poetry writing as a mundane yet skilful activity. At the beginning of the poem, Heaney uses the simile "as snug as a gun" to describe his pen. This image suggests that Heaney views the pen as something powerful, which, whilst strong, requires someone to trigger it. Guns also require ammunition, which is supplied by the user. In this analogy, the ammunition is Heaney's ideas, which he 'fires' at the paper using the pen. The fact that it is "snug" suggests that Heaney is not writing with it, which implies that he cannot think of anything to write. The Thought Fox, by Ted Hughes, begins in a somewhat similar vein. Hughes, like Heaney, mentions

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