"The Fish" and "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop are two poems written at two different stages of the poet's life. The two poems are very different. "The Fish" was written while Bishop was in her thirties, and "One Art was written during her sixties. "The Fish" is filled with poetic images all for the reason of making a powerful point, whereas "One Art" is more about dealing with loss, especially that of loved ones. "The Fish" was written to provoke a point while giving the reader a powerful set of images and details about the fish, making it into not only a poem with a purpose, but also a poem for the sake of visual language. Bishop, at first, gives the reader an adjective such as "tremendous" to describe the fish. Usually when told grandpa's tales of catching humongous fish, "tremendous" is a positive word--so positive that the prize fish usually grows an inch or two with every telling. Because of this, the reader initially thinks of the catch as a great one. However, with every line of the poem, Bishop slowly uncovers the truth about the fish, and how it and its environment was abused by the old oil-leaking motor pushing the rental boat that carried the fisherman. She sarcastically and enthusiastically describes the spilt oil on the water as "rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!" almost as if providing an excuse for the carelessness of the engine/fisherman. The ultimate theme of 'The Fish" is that the carelessness of how we treat others and ourselves can only impart negative results. "One Art" was definately written by an older and more mature Bishop, and deals with another touchy issue--loss (of friends, loved ones, etcetera). The manner in which Bishop describes loss is significant within itself: The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster (ln. 1-3). She describes loss as an art, as if she has lost so much that she has become an artist at it, and at dealing with it. She has become so numb to the loss of whatever it is that she has once loved, it is not a disaster to her anymore.
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 Loss of the Creature" starts off with the definition of beautiful, which is a key point throughout his essay. Next, he moves in to his example of a family of tourists, and their experience (through his eyes) at the Grand Canyon. He describes his theory of the sightseer, and the discoverer; "Does a single sightseer, receive the value of P, or only a millionth part of value P" (pg 1) Value P, being the experience, and the beauty in which that person collected. Following the sightseers was a couple who stumbled upon an undisturbed Mexican Village. The couple thoroughly enjoyed their first experience, but could not wait to return with their friend the ethnologist. When they did return with him, they were so caught up in what his reaction would be; there was a total loss of sovereignty. Due to their differences of interest in the village, the couples return trip was a waste. The second part of the essay includes a Falkland Islander who comes across a dead dogfish lying on the beach. Furthermore, he explains how a student with a Shakespeare sonnet, has no chance of being absorbed by a student due to the surrounding's or package of the class room. The two students are receiving the wrong messages, on one hand we have the biology student with his "magic wand" of a scalpel, and on the other hand the English student with his sonnet in its "many-tissued package". Both students are unaware of the real experience they could undergo, and the teacher might as well give the dogfish to the English student and the sonnet to the biology student because they will be able to explore and learn more within the different setting, and without the surroundings and expectations (pg 6).
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...
The Fishes, led by Julian, is a non-conformist revolutionary group who are “at war with the British government until they recognise equal rights for all immigrants in Britain.” The high modality of “at war” emphasises their non-conformist nature and difference in values; the Fishes fight for refugees’ justice and subvert the fascist values of the British government. Rebellion amongst other members of the population can also be seen in a scene with Theo on the train. Cuarón uses a long continuous shot is used as the audience follows him on his journey, which creates a documentary feel and makes the film more realistic. The scene begins with an anti-immigration propaganda played on the train and the camera slowly pans over Theo and to the windows where the rebels could be seen throwing rocks onto the train. The slow pan from the anti-immigration propaganda to the rebels emphasise the dissension in the society; the rebels disagree with the British government’s values and policies. Cuarón represents people and politics in a unique and evocative way through an exploration of conformity and non-conformity in a dystopian
The title of the poem itself dictates the simplicity Bishop wishes to convey regarding the narrator's view of his catch. A fish is a creature that has 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.
Fish uses the appeal of pathos many times throughout his argument. In “A Key Distinction” Fish discusses the history behind racism when he writes, “... to limit access to educational institutions, to prevent entry into the economy except at the lowest most menial levels…” Here he is using pathos by sympathetically expressing the setbacks people of race and ethnicity had to deal with throughout their life. Later on in “A Key Distinction” he sets an example argument by
Big Fish is like an incomprehensible film, which never ceases to stop surprising its viewers. The story is an amazing fantasy created by Tim Burton, which transports the viewer to another dimension by means of the main character’s experiences and adventures through the film. In the story the viewer finds a father, Edward Bloom, and a son, Will Bloom. The father is an extravagant storyteller, in which his son grew up hearing his tales and begins to doubt their credibility. Throughout the film the viewer can catch a glimpse of numerous acts of magical realism, but overall identifies the characteristic of mirror reversals which adds a special touch to the story when intertwined with the father and the son as they undergo a life changing journey.
Wallace, Daniel. Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012. N. pag. Print.
The poet seems to share the same pain with the fish, observing the scene and enjoying 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 live is in the moving and tragic details when she faces the death.
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:
This book helped me put some of the situations and feelings that I have experienced in my life into perspective and with more meaning. I could relate to many of the subjects that this book covered and could understand where the author’s ideas originated. Not only can I see his ideas appearing in my own actions, but I also see them in males in their mid-forties to fifties. This observation supports the idea of us going from innocence to doubt and back to innocence. The first idea that stuck with me is the interpretation of the salmon and how it represented Christ.
Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” on the surface appears to be a poem about preparing one’s self for loss but through close reading it becomes clear that the poem takes a deeper look at what loss truly means. At its’ core “One Art” is about the journey of loss and the new perspectives gained through the experience. The speaker of the poem is trying to convey that losing things, people and places as we gain them throughout life is an inevitable experience that must be accepted but the speaker is trying to control the experience by denying it power. The poem invites the reader to believe that the persona of the speaker is actually the poet, which is evident in the final line of the poem with the inclusion of “(Write it!)” the speaker/poet has written
Readers of Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” commonly pose objections which concern opposite ends of the critical spectrum. One
One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, this is the basic tales written by Dr. Seuss. Not only are these enjoyable children’s novels, but it is often times people’s first known exposure to the literary style of poetry. Poetry can be written in many different styles, with changing messages, tone, stanzas, rhyme, and length. Whether or not the difficulty level is low for a beginning reader, or written as an epic poem for a top level scholar, there is always a specific style and message that is being interpreted in the writing. These styles are studied and the most mysterious and inspirational poets are studied in literature classes; two academic individuals who have had a large impact on the poetic community are Aristotle and Alexander Pope.
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...