Analysis Of The Poem The Fish

Fishermen are known for telling big fish stories. In her poem, “The Fish,” Elizabeth Bishop conveys the story of a person who just caught a huge fish, and she depicts the conflict between the fisherman and the fish. “The Fish” is a poem that utilizes simplicity yet achieves the goal of providing many details. Bishop uses various literary elements throughout her poem to detail every event that happens. The fact that this story is based on her true experiences with a fish facilitates her in narrating the poem with much preciseness and sincerity (Doty). This poem is filled with a heavy sense of imagery, a creative use of language and literary devices, and a bit of symbolism through similes; utilizing these elements, the author enables the reader to connect and bond with the fish. Within the first three lines of the poem, the reader learns that the setting is a boat on some body of water. Even though the author uses many lines in the poem to relay her message, the story probably only took place over a few minutes. Bishop immediately personifies the fish by not referring to the fish as an object with the word “it,” but by referring to the fish with the word “him” as she “held him beside the boat” (2). She begins the details of the catch by speaking of her hook in the fish’s mouth and by pointing out that, “He

He notes that as the narrator is staring into the eyes of the fish, a series of sounds come through these descriptions. To emphasize the huge, sympathetic eyes, Bishop makes a subtle use of assonance in “which were far larger than mine” (35). A single use of alliteration describes the fish eyes as somewhat shiny “with tarnished tinfoil” (38). With the use of near-rhymes, “seen through the lenses / of old scratched isinglass” (39-40) continues to show the age of the fish for