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Elizabeth Bishop Figurative Language

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"The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop is filled with multiple examples of figurative language. Figurative language gives the poem more clarity and allows the reader to have a better understanding of the ideas of the author. Throughout the poem, there are examples of figurative language such as, personification, hyperbole, and alliteration. However, examples of similes, metaphors, and imagery most clearly portrays the ideas of Elizabeth Bishop by comparing ideas that are related to the fish's physical state, and to reflect on how the fish is a survivor. She also uses the language to give the reader a better understanding of what the fish represents to her. Similes throughout the poem are directed towards the fish and are used to explain the physical …show more content…

When imagery is used in pieces of literature, it paints a picture for the reader and allows authors to express the details they want the reader to experience. Elizabeth Bishop also does this in "The Fish". There are many examples of imagery used in this poem. Stone uses this imagery to describe how the fish looks and uses objects to help relate and give the reader a better understanding. Elizabeth Stone relates the fish to being in a struggle, by stating "He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, and infested with sea lice" (16-19). Stone describes how the fish is in such a bad physical state, because the fish has barnacles growing on him. Stone also states, "The dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails" (30-31). This piece of imagery Stone uses, represents the cuts on the fish, showing the organs inside and stating how vibrant the colors are. Stone also explains what the boat looks like when Stone catches the fish. She says, "Victory filled the boat, from the pool of bilge where oil had spread a rainbow around the rusted engine" (68-70). Stone explains her excitement by representing her emotions with the vibrant colors she uses in her explanations. She says the boat is filled with oil which spread into a rainbow, creating evidence to the readers of her amazing experience of catching the fish. "The Fish" is full of imagery, representing the fish and Elizabeth Stone's

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One example of figurative language in Laurie Hale Anderson’s book “Speak” is when Melinda decides to rid her garden of all weeds, and does some spring cleaning after it finally stops raining during May. Around the same time, Melinda is realizing that she wants to make some new changes in her life and in this figurative language example, Melinda’s life is her garden. She decides first to rake the leaves “suffocating the bushes” ; Melinda is ridding the demons from herself on the first layer of her skin. She says that she has to “fight the bushes (her problems)” and the bushes don’t like getting cleaned out but it is something one has to do if one makes

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“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power.” -Patrick Rothfuss. Everyone in uses figurative language in someway, you could be writing a paper, yelling at your sister, or maybe just talking to yourself. But you use it in someway, shape, or form.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

Imagine living your everyday life in a town named Tangerine, where natural disasters commonly occur. This is the situation that the protagonist, Paul Fisher, has been enduring ever since his family moved to Tangerine, Florida. The novel, Tangerine written by Edward Bloor, describes how Paul Fisher sees the world through his thick-rimmed goggles due to his damaged eyesight from “staring at an eclipse.” Paul has to be circumspect around bullies and his older brother, Erik, who seems to have dissoluteness living inside of him.

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575 Words | 3 Pages

The author portrays another example of this in a distinct way in the quote, “The golden carp glided smoothly among the shadows, its broad tail waving slowly like a gentle pendulum.” ( Chapter 10) this distributes the literary message of creating vivid and memorable symbolism. This quote utilizes sensory language to express the graceful movement of the golden carp, which helps to immerse the reader in the scene and create a sense of wonder and magic. Additionally, the metaphor of the carp's tail swaying like a pendulum adds a sense of rhythm and movement to the description, which further enhances the sensory experience for the reader. In general, this quote helps to bring the natural world to life in the novel and creates a deeper connection between the reader and the characters' environment.

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1143 Words | 5 Pages

Behind him, another man is holding some instruments. In the background, there are waves of blue. At the left side of the painting, there are lightening bolts. At the bottom left of the painting, there is a board connecting the ground to the boats, allowing some animals to enter. Behind that, there is a person on a ladder, carrying an item on their back.

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472 Words | 2 Pages

What seemed to be the biggest bass in the river, snagged on the line. There is no way the boy could let Sheila know of this. The rest of the night, the narrator maneuvers the boat perfectly and somehow manages to keep the fish on the line, without Sheila having any knowledge. They finally reach their destination and the boy is faced with a crippling decision. The boy has to either cut the line, letting the fish go, or risk having Sheila lose all interest in him by reeling in the fish.

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1228 Words | 5 Pages

Poetry is an important part of literature which conveys an author 's ideas across to the reader through the use of descriptive language. Poetry helps an author to express their inner emotions and often incorporates various poetic devices which enriches the text. Poetry gives the reader a different perspective and when read closely, can give the audience a look into the authors imagination. Likewise, poetic devices enhance the writing and can drastically change the mood of the poem, as well as, how the reader interprets the poem. Poetic devices are important in literature because they help to convey a message, add spontaneity to a poem, and give the reader a strong visual.

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1223 Words | 5 Pages

The four different environments are: “[the] plastic bag filled with water” (339), the sink, the wok, and the dining table. In addition, the different environment and the time before it was placed onto the dinner table signify the tension built within the family. When the fish was in the plastic bag and the sink, it implies the trapped Malaysian culture within the family. The narrator was able to see and touch the fish’s “gills and the soft muscled body” (339), indicating that she’s able to feel her cultural roots. When the fish was placed in the sink full of water, it fish hopelessly tries to survive.

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Amy Tan uses imagery in the short story “Fish Cheeks” in order to let the reader feel the way Amy felt at the table on Christmas Eve. For example, in the story it states, “ My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.” This explains that Amy felt embarrassed that her family wasn’t realizing the fact that they had no manners at the table. Amy was completely embarrassed with the fact that, that was the way her family had acted while they ate. Everyone is put into a situation where they wished their parents or family members had not acted the way they did in front of them, and Amy Tan writing this story makes you remember those times.

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In Li-Young Lee’s poem, Eating Alone, Lee uses many literary techniques such as imagery and tone to develop the speaker’s grief towards his father’s death. The poem is about a son who is mourning the loss of his father in which the fall brings back the memories of his father. When first reading this poem, it is very confusing and does not make much sense. Once the poem is analyzed, the reader can determine the distinction between life and death in the poem, where the speaker is missing the presence of their father. Imagery is a big factor in the poem for the speaker to communicate his themes of memory and loneliness.

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479 Words | 2 Pages

The description of the fish flopping on the ground as it is breathless on the ground, shows the symbol of the story, and the purpose of the story. Get in trouble to save the fish, or not get in trouble and not save the fish. Overall, the use of rhetorical devices helps the audience understand Reynolds way of speaking, and clarifies the topic of empowerment and

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1785 Words | 8 Pages

The Sea King is widowed and his mother takes care of his palace. “They were six beautiful children; but the youngest was the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like all the others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish’s tail. All day long they played in the great halls of the castle, or among the living flowers that

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943 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator immediately incorporates symbolism insinuating the emphasis on struggle in the first stanza. Symbolizing adversity, she tells the reader “I think by now the river must be thick with salmon. Late August,

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633 Words | 3 Pages

He remembers her “stripey cerulean” blue eyes and uses blue as a delicate reference to her. A blue fish appears to him on page eleven, “a regular blue fish, solid and alive,” and begins to tap on his goggles, before swimming away, lost forever. The fish, believed to be a reincarnation of Olivia, parallels the way she left her brothers two years before. Even the way the fish acts around Timothy, tapping his goggles as if urging him to follow, mirrors the way Olivia begged her brothers to continue to play where her at the

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1580 Words | 7 Pages

“Bishop’s carefully judged use of language aids the reader to uncover the intensity of feeling in her poetry.” Elizabeth Bishop’s superb use of language in her introspective poetry allows the reader to grasp a better understand of feeling in her poetry. Bishop’s concentration of minor details led to her being referred to as a “miniaturist”, however this allows her to paint vivid imagery, immersing the reader in her chosen scenario. Through descriptive detail, use of metaphor, simile, and many other excellently executed stylistic devices, the reader can almost feel the emotion being conveyed. Bishop clearly demonstrates her innate talent to communicate environments at ease.

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