“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 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.
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
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.
In Julia Alvarez’s poem “On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries”, Alvarez skillfully employs poetic devices such as imagery and personification to let the reader view the power of literature through the eyes of a young, poverty stricken, estranged woman, inspiring her love for poetry. Alvarez’s use of imagery paints a vivid picture of the setting and the narrator’s actions for the reader throughout her significant experience; all through the eyes of an alienated female. The use of personification and author’s tone brings “The Blue Estuaries” to life for the reader-just as it had appeared to the narrator.
William Faulkner overwhelms his audience with the visual perceptions that the characters experience, making the reader feel utterly attached to nature and using imagery how a human out of despair can make accusations. "If I jump off the porch I will be where the fish was, and it all cut up into a not-fish now. I can hear the bed and her face and them and I can...
A fish is a creature that preceded the creation of man on this planet. Therefore, Bishop supplies the reader with a subject that is essentially constant and eternal, like life itself. In further examination of this idea the narrator is, in relation to the fish, very young, which helps introduce the theme of deceptive appearances in conjunction with age by building off the notion that youth is ignorant and quick to judge. Bishop's initial description of the fish is meant to further develop this theme by presenting the reader with a fish that is "battered," "venerable," and "homely." Bishop compares the fish to "ancient wallpaper.
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.
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
As stated above imagery is the key aspect to this poem. The first aspect of imagery to examine is visual imagery. The speaker begins the poem by introducing the reader to the fish by saying “I caught a tremendous fish” (1). With the use of the word tremendous, it is easy to visualize a large fish. The next lines that create an image are “He hung a grunting weight, / battered and venerable, / and homely” (7-9). An illustration of a heavy, beat-up, ancient, and ugly fish is created in the readers mind by those three lines. The speaker then says; “His brown skin hung in strips, / like ancient wall-paper” (10-11). In this description it is easy to imagine the skin of the fish being rough, scaly and dark colored.
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.
...m the “battered and venerable and homely” fish is now a decorated war hero who has fought many battles. The speaker always had respect for the fish but at the end her admiration is so outstanding that she feels obligated to honor it. The final declaration is, “And I let the fish go” (76). This is the culmination of all the previous dialogue and shows the speaker’s utmost respect for the fish and how it would be inhumane of her to kill it.
Likewise, both poets portray their attitudes throughout their meeting: one that is continually idolizing according to Dickey and another that is uneasy toward the shark at first, but self-disparaging later on according to MacCaig. Dickey is continually admiring and appreciative of the creature he meets throughout his poem. He relates the shark to being the “strength” (6) of creation, emphasizing a belief that the shark is superior to any living being, and therefore showing his admiration of the creature. Dickey also refers to himself as a man “in love” (10), admitting the appreciation he feels toward the mesmerizing “creature of light” (13). Indeed, the poet’s admiration is so prominent, he reveals that he “name[d] the blue shark” (19). The use of the word “heart” (20) to explain where the shark had affected him during the encounter, along with the comparison of the shark to an unknown “brother” (21), also shows just how strong of a connection he had with the shark. Contrastingly, MacCaig seems threatened when he first come across the shark. However, after more time with the shark, he slowly realizes that his initial thoughts about the creature may have been misplaced. The poet begins by calling the shark a “rock” (1) to depict its power, showing that it is a force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, he uses words such as
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
Let’s start with "The Fish" by Bishop’s themes in the poem, corresponding choices, man and the natural world, power, and humility. Choices on whether to let the fish live or die, or keep the fish or to let him go as seen in lines 1-2, or
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...