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Poem Analysis: The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop

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The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop Poetry is the art of minimal storytelling, often containing hidden or abstract ideas as the theme. Theme in other types of literature tends to be more distinct and clear cut, a theme tells the lesson or point of a book, story, or movie. In poetry, however, it can be necessary to read three or four times over to merely understand the “point” of the poem. While poems are much shorter than other literary forms, it can require the most thought and probe your mind for alternative perceptions. Although this is a free verse poem, it maintains a solid sense of consistency. “The Fish” has no meter, and completely avoids rhyme scheme, even slant rhymes. Perhaps the free form is present to backup and represent the fisher …show more content…

This large fish is more than a lethargic, negligent fish; he is a veteran. He has been ensnared, yet managed to escape every time. The respect the narrator of the poem gives to the fish is a result of his understood past. The fish has a weighted reputation, hooks loftily dangling from his lips with the lines still attached. The hooks are the equivalent to medals. Often veterans are ignored, left to rot and decay away at the bottom of their own muddy waters. The fish, in this theory is a war …show more content…

Another instance to support the theory that the fish is symbolic for veterans is when the fisher says the hooks in the fish mouth is: "Like medals with their ribbons / frayed and wavering" (Bishop 61-62). The fish is at a formal event, he is in battle with a fisherman, an early arrival to his own funeral. He seemed to have given up, quoted as: “He didn’t fight. / He hadn’t fought at all” (Bishop 5-6). As the narrator goes on to describe the fish, you learn he is infested with sea lice, his skin is decaying, and his eyes could no longer see as intended. His body showed that he was not only an old fish, but one that used to fiercely fight for his life. He has become tired now, and is ready to approach death, not even attempting to escape the clutches of death hooked on his

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In addition, the last way that the short story demonstrates grief is when the main character is fishing and she immediately gets the determination to catch the fish she is chasing,“It occurs to me if I fall, I will not have the strength to regain my footing”(36). The reader then gets the feeling that the main character is upset and irritated at the same time. The reader begins to think that it may be that she is a really good fisher and she does not want to let the fish go. The main character is imaging the fish as her father and if she lets the fish escape her, then she would not have the strength to hold herself together anymore. If she lets her father go then she knows that the wave of sorrow will finally hit her and he will finally be gone.

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“The Fish” written by Elizabeth Bishop has characteristics that could be compared to the Holocaust. The narrator of “The Fish” describes the fish as possessing human characteristics such as being beautiful and having a “life story”. During the Holocaust the Nazis’ mostly thought of the prisoners of concentration camps as only prisoners, however a few saw the prisoners as people with backgrounds, families, and souls. The overall opinion that the Nazis’ had towards the prisoners and the way the narrator views the fish are easily comparable.

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Neruda decides to write the poem in a vertical style, with each line being a few words, so the poem is much longer reading down the paper than it is reading across. If the poem is turned 90 degrees to the left, the pattern of shorter and longer lines creates a series of waves, but when the poem is read from top to bottom, it is representative of sinking through the layers of the sea. The poet Neruda purposefully decides to format his poem this way by creating the image of the ocean with his words, and so the poem reflects the tuna’s natural habitat. In essence, the poem is the ocean, and his words are the fish swimming in the sea.

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What is “The Fish”? This poem written by Elizabeth Bishop is about what exactly what you think it is as you read the title, a fish. It starts off with the speaker out on a boat holding the fish they have caught. The speaker proceeds to describe the fish's appearance. Then they set the fish free.

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Also, the fish represent the obstacles that one may face while trying to reach their goal and shaping their ability to achieve it. This ultimately challenges them to decide whether to accept the task and grow or abandon their dreams by giving up. The girl’s the environment around her influenced her hard work ethic and her decision to have patience to accomplish her

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Reynolds uses this story to share a personal anecdote, telling how the fish could be seen “...flipping and flopping and flapping, inflating, deflating, dying, only to be met by mortified and confused faces.” By using this alliteration, Reynolds is trying to evoke empathy from the graduates, wanting them to feel the sadness represented through his words. He uses alliteration to help his audience understand how the fish was moving, with the audience being able to imagine what it was like in that moment and how terrifying it was. By using alliteration, Reynolds demonstrates his overall message to the graduates how through the course of life, it is often easy for individuals to only think about themselves, not taking a look at others around them. Through taking a look at other’s situations and checking in on them, humans can learn to help those who are less fortunate.

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Although the old man suffers in pain and exhaustion due to the great size of the fish, the overwhelming sun, and his injured hands, he does not quit but keeps persisting. He does not let go of the fish. He maintained his strong desire to conquer the

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Imagery in a poem can be a word or sequence of words that can relate to something can be seen, heard, touched, smelt, or tasted. In Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, The Fish Bishop uses imagery to get her ideas across. Bishop goes into detail to describe the appearance of this hideous fish that this person has caught to show how human nature has, in some way, corrupted nature. Bishop also uses imagery to show how the fisherman feels about the fish. Bishop uses imagery throughout the poem to help understand these concepts by painting a picture of it and letting the reader decipher the meanings of it on their own.

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The use of personification is common in children. Therefore, this use conveys a feeling that a child wrote the poem. In addition, the narrator reminds the fish the time, in which it could not swim. If the reader reads this sentence, he will not understand it since there is not a fish that cannot swim. Nevertheless, if the reader reads it as a metaphor, he will understand the meaning behind it.

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“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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