“The Fish” Literary Analysis “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop illustrates the art of capturing a fish from water, an act once used merely as a food source. When the narrator first caught the fish, she felt sickened by it. As the poem proceeds, the narrator starts to develop an admiration towards the fish. This poem is saturated with colorful imagery and sufficient descriptions, which helps the reader envision the narrator’s view of the fish transform. At first glimpse, the reader would believe that this poem is just about a regular fishing trip, but the central theme has a much greater meaning. Through imagery, similes, and paradox Bishop demonstrates that beauty and bliss can be uncovered in the most ambiguous things. Imagery serves as an extremely effective part of supporting the theme, which is why Bishop uses a lot of color references to give us mental images of the fish. The first time we see the fish being described with color is when the narrator uses “brown” (10-11) to describe it, which a very plain color. At this time, the narrator is still repulsed by the fish so she’s uses bland colors to describe it. A few lines later the narrator uses the color white to refer to sea lice and the fish's meat. As we continue reading we see the narrator use "reds and blacks" (29-31) and “pink” (32-33) to describe the fish’s blood and guts, which is …show more content…
At first, the narrator viewed the fish as unpleasant, even frightening. As the catcher of the fish observes its large eyes, grim face, and scars on the lip, she empathizes for the fish. During this stage of compassion is when the narrator realizes that the fish is truly beautiful. Other people fishing may have viewed the fish as a piece of waste because they couldn’t understand the complexity of the connection between the fish and the narrator. The fish’s untold expedition sparks an emotional connection for the narrator. Beauty can be found in the most ambiguous
In Mark Doty’s “A Display of Mackerel”, Doty depicts a glorious group of mackerel perfectly united to suggest that humans should learn from them and act as a group to reach the same level of perfection. He describes simple mackerel on sale, but with the stunning image he portrays, they seem as valuable as gems: “Iridescent, watery/prismatics: think abalone,/the wildly rainbowed/mirror of a soapbubble sphere,/think sun on gasoline.” (9-13 Doty). The fish are remarkable in themselves, but their beauty supports the point of this poem, which is that there is “nothing about them/of individuality. Instead/they’re all exact expressions/of the one soul,/each a perfect fulfilment/of heaven’s template” (17-22 Doty). The earlier imagery creates a feeling
He teaches the kid what to do in order to successfully reel in a large, beautiful fish. Ironically, the narrator is the one who learns from the kid in the end. At the beginning of the story, everything is described negatively, from the description of the kid as a “lumpy little guy with baggy shorts” to his “stupid-looking ’50s-style wrap-around sunglasses” and “beat-up rod”(152). Through his encounter with the boy, the narrator is able to see life in a different way, most notable from how he describes the caught tarpon as heavy, silvery white, and how it also has beautiful red fins (154). Through the course of the story, the narrator’s pessimistic attitude changes to an optimistic one, and this change reveals how inspiring this exchange between two strangers is. This story as a whole reveals that learning also revolves around interactions between other people, not only between people and their natural surroundings and
Wetherell, W.D. "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston: McGrawHill, 2003. 191-196.
Metaphors and Similes are often used in this story, so the reader has a better image of the setting, this is something, and I find Connell did incredibly well, for instance when he refers to the darkness of the night like moist black velvet, the sea was as flat as a plate-glass and it was like trying to see through a blanket.
Why was the narrator obsessed with the axolotl’s eyes? Because they were so different than the other fish because the other fishes, eyes resembled something remarkably human. So he chose the most different and interesting outcast like I believed the narrator felt about him
Throughout the first half of the poem, Bishop describes the fish as an inanimate object, as reflected in her comparisons, which uses objects to describe the fish as shown when she says, “Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper…”. (9-11) She chooses a wallpaper to describe the skin of the fish in order to accurately portray its battered and worn state; her decision to compare the fish to an inorganic ...
Aside from being the staple food of the characters in the film, the dried fish can probably represent the life. that they had before Babette’s arrival in their village. It signifies the characters’ extremely simple and puritan way of life to the point. of becoming stiff and lifeless, just like the fish. Their lives are devoid of excitement and passion and the original dream of their religious group is growing as old and tired as the members themselves.
The first element to analyze when looking at “The Fish” is figurative language. The reader is drawn to this element because of its heavy emphasis throughout the poem. Elizabeth Bishop profusely uses similes with the intention of heightening the sensation of fishing. She writes:
In fact, the fish story has become a metaphor reflecting the technique used by Finney for expressing the difficult thing beautifully, to compress a poem choosing what should be kept in a poem and what should be thrown away (Finney, “Interview with: Nikky Finney”), to express whatever difficult feelings she has without much noise or rage. Finney sees activism as a basic part of her work.
The last poem “The Fish” illustrates the sorrow of life itself. The skin, the blood, the entrails, everything of the fish depicts vividly and dramatically. The poet seems to share the same pain with the fish observing the scene and enjoys the detail just like enjoying an artwork. The poet lets the fish go because she is totally touched by the process between life and death; she loves life but meanwhile, is deeply hurt by the life. In the poem, the fish has no fear towards her; the desire to life is in the moving and tragic details when faces the
Let’s end with "The Fish" by Bishop’s imagery techniques in the poem like, symbol, kinetic, kinesthetic, and symbolize. Symbol; Expectation vs. Outcome,
Small details are instrumental in seeing the bigger picture. This is apparent when reading “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Most often the reader experiences visual imagery in poetry. In this poem the reader encounters visual, auditory, and sensory imagery. “The Fish” is filled with minute details that paint a picture for the reader. With each new element that is introduced, it becomes easier to visualize the fish. The speaker is able to show the reader the beauty as well as the ugliness of this creature with her vivid imagery. The imagery used is so distinct that the reader can envisage being the fisherman and catching this fish. Another important element involved in this poem is irony. The reader might ask “why would the speaker take the time to catch the fish, only to set it free”? To begin it is important to show the differentiation of the types of imagery used in this poem.
In "The Change" by James Dickey and "Basking Shark" by Norman MacCaig, both poets describe an unforgettable encounter with another creature. Through visual imagery and divergent word choice, the poets elicit a similar tone of awe as they grapple with their encounters and their aftereffects.
She uses diction, metaphors, and figurative language to created images for her readers. The poem has a real sense to it; it’s something that could happen to any person out fishing. “The Fish,” was written uniformly, without stanzas or indentations. Bishop also didn’t write this poem with an excessive amount of rhetorical devices. She uses the most of the rhetoric sparingly, other than metaphors and similes which were used often. Bishop opened the poem up by illustrating the fish’s emotional and mental state. She described him as venerable, which its definition states that if something is venerable it commands respect. Then the author moves on to depict his physical state. All the details point to the fish being old and tattered. Towards the end the fishermen realizes that the fish is strong enough to have survived several fishermen before her. With this realization the narrator feels victorious, but decides to let the fish go. Bishop lets the fish go out of respect for it’s strength. She opens the poem with stating the fish is respectable, then she says in different ways that he’s old, and eventually she connects that he is strong enough to withstand fishermen before
Dr. Seuss’ works were written for children but he often hid political issues within them. He wrote the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish in 1960 which was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. In the first stanza of the story, one of the two narrators, Ned describes the many different fish he sees all around him. He describes how the fish around him vary in m...