MODULE 2 — Creative Thinking and Writing

1. The Thought Fox (poem)

-Ted Hughes

The Thought Fox" was first published in the British poet Ted Hughes's
debut collection, The Hawk in the Rain, in 1957. One of Hughes's most
popular poems, "The Thought Fox" is about creativity, inspiration, and the
process of writing poetry. This "thought fox" can be thought of as a
metaphor for inspiration and creative thought, which seem to come from a
mysterious place separate from the speaker's conscious mind. The poem
treats the fox in mostly literal terms, however, and in doing so proves the
power of poetry to bring new worlds—and creatures—to vivid life on the
page.
The speaker sits alone in the middle of the night, surrounded by a forest
that may or may not be in his imagination. He senses that something apart
from himself is alive, as the clock ticks in the silence and his fingers hover
over an empty page. He can't see any stars through the window, but feels
that something is approaching him from the depths of the darkness,
heading towards this isolated scene.
A fox gently touches its cold nose to twigs and leaves in the darkness. Its
eyes scan its surroundings, again and again, from moment to moment. The
fox leaves tidy paw prints in the snow as it makes its way between the trees.
Its shadow trails behind it like an injured animal. The fox's body, however,
moves confidently and purposefully through clearings in the forest.
The fox's eye widens, its green color becoming more intense and vivid as
it concentrates on what's ahead—until its scent suddenly becomes
immediate and visceral, and the fox enters the darkness of the speaker's
mind. The speaker still can't see any stars through the window. The clock is
still ticking, and the poem has been written.

1. How does the poet express his loneliness?

The poet expresses his loneliness by saying that it is midnight and he is
in the forest.
2. What is the tone of the poem, ‘The Thought Fox’?
 The tone of the poem, ‘The Thought Fox’ is pensive with a tinge of
loneliness.
3. How does the Fox imply the creative response of the speaker?
The fox is cold and delicate. Thus the Fox implies the creative response of
the speaker.
4. What does the fox symbolize?
The Fox symbolizes the thought and idea in the mind of the speaker
waiting to write down.
5. What does the forest here refer to?
The forest here refers to the speaker’s mind.

2. Poetry (poem)
Marianne Moore

“Poetry” is one of Moore’s best-known and most discussed poems. It is

an investigation into the mysterious art of poetry. Moore reworked on this
poem several times and brought out several versions of it. The poem is best
known for the shocking first line, in which Moore states that she dislikes
poetry. She says that there are many more important things than such
nonsense. Even if one reads poetry with “contempt” one might discover
something genuine in it. A genuine poetry makes one feel grasping it, his
eyes become dilated, and the hair rises. She gives examples of things that
are rich and vital, such as a bat hanging upside down, an elephant pushing,
a rolling horse, and a tireless wolf under a tree. All these are images of
animals engaged in very natural acts.
The reader may feel the speaker's eagerness to move beyond bad poetry
and into the good. Immediately after listing the names of animals, she lists
a few people - the "immovable critic," who is compared to a horse bothered
by fleas, a sports fan, and a statistician. These are just a few examples of
"case after case" that could be cited in poetry. All are equally valid and
interesting. She quotes from the diaries of Tolstoy. Tolstoy wrote that
poetry is verse, prose is not verse. And poetry is everything with the
exception of business documents and school books. But Moore says that
even the most ordinary pieces of text like business documents and
textbooks should not be discriminated against the topic of poetry.
 There should be a distinction made between good poetry and bad
poetry. Just writing about the above-mentioned things does not constitute
genuine poetry. Any subject, the speaker argues, can make a good poem as
long as the poem is written by a real poet, not a "half poet." When “half
poets'' write of these subjects, they remain trivial; they have not captured
the essence of these things.
The tone of the poem is like a casual conversation. The poet openly
expresses her dislike of poetry. The poet is not actually against poetry as the
initial lines indicate. She is indeed of the view that poetry is of such
influence and has a substance that someone who is not fond of poetry will
also be able to appreciate it. She tries to make a distinction between good
poets and half poets and the components of good poetry. The
conversational tone is best to convey her thoughts to the readers. Moore's
concise language and stanza-long sentences can obscure the poem's
meaning during an initial reading. But behind the complexity of language is
a simple message.

1. Which are the useful things listed by the speaker?

Hands that can grasp, eyes that can dilate and hair that can rise are the
useful things listed by the speaker.
2. According to the poet, how can one find something genuine in poetry ?
Reading poetry with a perfect contempt for ot, one can find something
genuine in poetry.
3. Is the speaker impatient with ‘half-poets’? Why?
Yes. When “half poets'' write poetry on any subject, they remain trivial;
they have not captured the essence of these things.
4. How does the speaker define people who are really interested in poetry?
People who are interested in poetry demand the raw material of poetry
in all its rawness and genuineness.
5. According to the poet, what happens when we read good poetry?
When we read good poetry, our mind moves away and we should
appreciate it.

3. Excerpt from An Autobiography (Prose)

Agatha Christie
 In the excerpt taken from Agatha Christie’s An Autobiography, she
narrates the experience she had when she decided to write her first work. At
that time she was working as a nurse in a dispensary, where she had slack
and busy hours or sometimes she could do nothing. It became a favourable
time to plan about her work. Firstly, she planned the type of work she
would write. It would be a detective novel.
Then she seriously makes plans about the plot. Being surrounded with
poison, she decides death by poisoning as the method for the crime. The
most common kind of murder is when a husband kills his wife.
Immediately her thoughts were about the murderer and the murdered.
According to her belief at that time the murderer should be looking sinister.
So he could have a long beard to look rather sinister.
Keeping this thought in mind, she travelled in a tram. There she met a
man with a long beard and chose him as her hero. Then she planned about
her detective. She wanted to find one like Sherlock Holmes. She chose her
own model from the Belgian refugees. His name should be a different one.
She was striked with Hercules, then modified as Herecule. His second name
should be a complicated one. Fortunately, she was attracted to Piorots. At
last, her detective was named Hercule Piorots. These are the difficulties that
she had faced when she decided to write her first book.

1. How does the job at the dispensary provide Agatha Christie a favorable
opportunity to think about her novel?
In a dispensary there are slack or busy periods. Sometimes she couldn’t
do anything. She makes it a favorable opportunity to think about her novel.
2. What are the author’s thoughts on the method of her writing?
Since she is surrounded by poison, it is natural that death by poisoning
should be the method she selected.
3. According to the author, what is the most usual kind of murder?
According to the author, a husband could murder his wife is the most usual
kind of murder.
4. What are the features of her murderer?
The murderer would have to be rather sinister looking. He would have a
black beard.
5. What made Agatha Christie stop thinking about real people?
 She thought that it was not good thinking about real people. She decided
to create her own characters.
6. Why didn’t the wife matter much in her detective story?
The wife didn’t matter much in her detective story because she could
have been murdered.

4. Half a Day (Short story)-

Naguib Mahfouz
.
“Half a Day” is a very short allegorical tale in which the narrator begins
the day as a young boy entering school for the first time but leaves the
schoolyard an old man whose life has passed in what seemed like only “half
a day.” As the story opens, the narrator is a young boy walking to his first
day of school. The boy is delighted with the new clothes he is wearing for
the occasion but is apprehensive about going to school.
Upon stepping into the yard, the boy sees the faces of the other boys and
girls but feels “like a stranger who had lost his way.” One boy approaches
and asks the narrator who brought him to school; when he replies that it
was his father, the other boy states that his own father is dead. The narrator
soon becomes one of the group of children, and the narrative voice changes
from the first person singular “I” to alternatively speaking in the third
person plural “we.”
The narrator makes friends with some of the boys and falls in love with
some of the girls. He describes the school day in a manner which is meant
to be interpreted as an allegory for human life, with its ups and downs,
trials, and tribulations. When the bell rings to announce the end of the day,
the narrator steps outside the gate, but his father is not waiting there for
him as promised. He encounters a familiar middle-aged man; they greet
one another and shake hands before the man moves along.
The narrator finds that the street and surroundings have completely
changed since the morning. These changes are meant to be understood in
allegorical terms, as representing the effect of modernization and
urbanization in radically changing the face of the city within the lifetime of
one man. He is unable to cross the street because of heavy traffic. Finally, a
“young lad” offers to help him across, addressing him as “Grandpa”—the
little boy has passed an entire lifetime in what seemed like only half a day,
and is now an old man at the end of his life.

1. Why did the narrator wear new clothes?

The narrator wore new clothes because he was to be cast into school for
the first time.
2. Explain how the child challenges the idea of schooling?
The child challenges the idea of schooling by asking his father why he
sent school without having any annoyance to him.
3. How did the father motivate the child when he hesitated to enter the
class?
By pushing gently, the father said to the child to be a man and reminded
him that day he truly began his life.
4. Why did the boy feel like a stranger in school?
When the faces of boys and girls came into view, the boy felt like a
stranger because he didn’t know anyone.