The language used to describe the speaker's head-a "dark hole"-makes his mind seem abyssal and threatening however, the speaker's mind, in spite of this darkness, proves to be a fecund, generative space. This "sharp hot stink" of inspiration, though anticipated by the poem's previous stanzas, jolts the speaker, compelling him to write. Something about the fox, or about the speaker's careful observation, triggers the words the speaker has been searching for.
The speaker draws out his description of the fox's eye, its "widening deepening greenness," as though prolonging the image to test a combination of words, to determine which feels best.Īs the fox continues to go "about its own business," the speaker is struck with the "sudden sharp hot stink of fox," which represents a creative breakthrough. The phrase "Across clearings" at the beginning of stanza 5 could signal this collision.
However, in the poem's final stanzas, these meanings converge: the fox is both animal and idea, literal and metaphorical. We know from the poem's first two stanzas that the fox exists both at the edges of the forest beyond the speaker's window, and within the metaphorical dark forest of his mind. But, as the clock continues ticking, the speaker finally puts pen to page. He notices that stars have yet to appear in the sky. Now, the speaker shifts his attention to the fox's eye, zooming in on its "widening deepening greenness." The speaker remarks that the animal is simply "Coming about its own business" then, suddenly, the "sharp hot stink of fox" hits the "dark hole" of the speaker's head. Stanza 6 continues the enjambment at the end of stanza 5, when the describes the fox's shadow.