Summary
Stanza 6 continues the enjambment at the end of stanza 5, when the describes the fox's shadow. 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. He notices that stars have yet to appear in the sky. But, as the clock continues ticking, the speaker finally puts pen to page.
Analysis
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. However, in the poem's final stanzas, these meanings converge: the fox is both animal and idea, literal and metaphorical. The phrase "Across clearings" at the beginning of stanza 5 could signal this collision. 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.
As 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. Something about the fox, or about the speaker's careful observation, triggers the words the speaker has been searching for. This "sharp hot stink" of inspiration, though anticipated by the poem's previous stanzas, jolts the speaker, compelling him to write. 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.
The organic nature of the speaker's work is emphasized in line 23 when the speaker notices that "the window is starless still." The inspiration for the poem he writes is not divine or lofty, but grounded in the world in front of him and rooted in his perspective of this world. Ultimately, the fox inspires the speaker because he forces him to recognize the power of his own vision, mining the material lurking within the dark, dense forest of his mind. The clock continues to tick, but it is no longer lonely: the page, now filled with the speaker's words, is printed.
The final stanza differs also from the rest of the poem through its introduction of violence. Inspiration, represented by the fox's smell, is no gentle force. The fox's "hot stink...enters" the speaker's head like an arrow piercing a target's bullseye. The language used to describe the fox's smell—"sudden," "sharp," "hot"— juxtaposes with the animal's cold and delicate, albeit bold, demeanor. By including elements of the fox's wild nature, the speaker creates a nuanced picture of the inspiring power he signifies: inspiration, at times, can be variously affronting and all-consuming, unbiased and unaccommodating. As a result, the speaker's poetic creation arises through a kind of violence. Something has "entered" or disrupted the speaker's mind; now he is changed. This fertilizing disruption is what the speaker had been waiting for, and it is the source of the poem.
