`The Tyger' by William Blake was written in 1794 and `The Thought Fox' by Ted Hughes was written in the 1950's the poems are similar in that they both describe an animal and use this as an extended metaphor. The ideas in the poems and the way they are written are very different, however.

To begin with, `The Tyger' uses the animal to symbolise evil. The first line of the poem is `Tyger Tyger burning bright.' This describes the colours of the tiger's coat as being like fire and makes the animal seem quite frightening. The impression of it being powerful is also given in words such as `fearful symmetry' and `deadly terrors'.

The poet uses the questions all the way through `The Tyger' for example `what the hammer? What the chain? In what thy furnace was thy brain?' This gives the impression that the poet has...