Elizabeth's Bishop "The Fish"

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Elizabeth's Bishop "The Fish"
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•   I caught a tremendous fishand held him beside
  the boathalf out of water, with my hookfast in
  a corner of his mouth.He didn't fight.He hadn't
  fought at all.He hung a grunting
  weight,battered and venerableand homely. Here
  and therehis brown skin hung in stripslike
  ancient wallpaper,and its pattern of darker
  brownwas like wallpapershapes like full-blown
  rosesstained and lost through age.

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• He was speckled and barnacles,fine rosettes of
  lime,and infestedwith tiny white sea-lice,and
  underneath two or threerags of green weed hung
  down.While his gills were breathing inthe
  terrible oxygen--the frightening gills,fresh
  and crisp with blood,that can cut so badly--I
  thought of the coarse white fleshpacked in like
  feathers,
• the big bones and the little bones,the dramatic
  reds and blacksof his shiny entrails,and the
  pink swim-bladderlike a big peony.

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• I looked into his eyeswhich were far larger than
  minebut shallower, and yellowed,the irises
  backed and packedwith tarnished tinfoilseen
  through the lensesof old scratched
  isinglass.They shifted a little, but notto
  return my stare.
• --It was more like the tippingof an object
  toward the light.I admired his sullen face,the
  mechanism of his jaw,and then I sawthat from
  his lower lip--if you could call it a lipgrim,
  wet, and weaponlike,hung five old pieces of
  fish-line,or four and a wire leaderwith the
  swivel still attached,with all their five big
  hooks

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• grown firmly in his mouth.A green line, frayed
  at the endwhere he broke it, two heavier
  lines,and a fine black threadstill crimped from
  the strain and snapwhen it broke and he got
  away.Like medals with their ribbonsfrayed and
  wavering,a five-haired beard of wisdomtrailing
  from his aching jaw.I stared and staredand
  victory filled upthe little rented boat,from
  the pool of bilgewhere oil had spread a
  rainbowaround the rusted engineto the bailer
  rusted orange,the sun-cracked thwarts,the
  oarlocks on their strings,the gunnels--until
  everythingwas rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!And I
  let the fish go.

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• This seventy-six-line poem is an account of a
  fishing trip and how it affected Bishop.This is
  a memory poem.Bishop remembers catching and
  letting go a large fish. During the time she held
  on to the fish, Bishop formed a relationship in
  her mind with the fish. The fish did not show any
  awareness of Bishop.The poem is set in the sea
  off Florida.Clearly, Bishop is not an expert at
  fishing. Her boat was rented

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• In the first four lines, Bishop stated how she
  caught a huge fish and stared at it beside her
  boat. She didnt haul the fish into her boat.
  Bishop noticed her hook in the fishs mouth.
• In lines five and six Bishop noted that the fish
  was unusual because it did not resist he didnt
  fight. This fact should put a question into the
  readers mind Why did the fish surrender so
  tamely?

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• From line seven to line nine, she described how
  the fish looked as he hung beside the boatHe
  hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable
  and homely. The fish was heavy, had injuries
  from previous fights, seemed holy venerable
  to her and was not attractive to the eye
  homely.
• Bishop described the fishs skin or scales from
  line ten to line twenty-one.It was brown. It
  reminded Bishop of old wallpaper. The skin had
  peeled in places and it had a flowery
  patternshapes like full-blown rosesstained
  and lost through age.The fishs skin had tiny
  shells, known as barnacles, stuck to itHe was
  speckled with barnacles.These tiny shells were
  rose shapedfine rosettes of lime.

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• The fish also had a skin problem. It was crawling
  with sea-lice. This is an ugly description.
  Green seaweed hung from the belly of the fish.
• From lines twenty-two to twenty-six, Bishop
  described the sharp gills of the fish. She stated
  that they were bloody. The air was terrible to
  the fish. The air caused its gills to  bleed.
• From lines thirty-four to forty four Bishop
  described the eyes of the fish. She compares the
  fishs eyes to her own. This comparison shows
  that she was beginning to see the fish in human
  termsI looked into his eyeswhich were far
  larger than mine.She looked closely. Then she
  discovered that the fish was a different creature
  than herself. The eyes were shallower. She
  couldnt look deeply into the eyes of the fish.
  The colourful parts of the eyes, the irises,
  were yellow. They were not clear. You could not
  look through them. They did not give back a clear
  reflection. They were like discoloured tinfoil.
  The eyes were probably clouding over because the
  fish was dying in the air. The eyes were like
  white glass that you couldnt see throughold
  scratched isinglass.Then bishop noticed that
  the fishs eyes movedthough not to look at her.
  They moved slightly towards the light. The fish
  did not make eye contact with Bishop.
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•  

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• From line forty-five to line sixty-four Bishop
  described the mouth of the fish, with old broken
  fish lines stuck in it. The fish looked cross or
  sullen. Its lip was like a weapon. On this lip,
  you could see five old pieces of fish line.
  Bishop described the different fish lines in
  detail.
• From line sixty-five until the end of the poem,
  Bishop went into a stare. She saw the oily
  colours on the bilge water of the boat as a
  rainbow. She felt proudI stared and staredand
  victory filled upthe little rented boat.
• It was a big personal achievement to catch the
  huge fish. Bishop began to enjoy her triumph. It
  was a big moment for her. She imagined that her
  feeling of victory filled up the rented boat.
  Meanwhile, the big fish was still partly in the
  water.

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• Bishop provided a detailed picture of the old
  boat. Many parts of the boat were rusty from use.
  Bishop, the fish and the boat shared the fact
  that they were all  battered from lifes
  strugglesthe sun-cracked thwarts.The boat
  had cracks in it from the heat of the sun.

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• As Bishop stared, her eyes played a trick. All
  she could see were the bands of colour on the oil
  slick on the bottom of the boateverything was
  rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
• This repeated word rainbow means Bishop had a
  colourful moment. She saw a new truth. She
  realised something special. You can call it a
  moment of vision. She realised that she and the
  huge fish had something in common. Both of them
  had struggled.
• Both had survived battles. Both had overcome
  danger. Both of them had enjoyed their victories
  in difficult moments. Suddenly she felt very
  close in spirit to the fish. 
• Then she did something unusual. She released the
  fish she had caughtAnd I let the fish go.

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• She felt that like herself, the fish deserved a
  lucky break. In her view, the fish deserved
  respect because it had survived so many difficult
  situations.
• The fish was no longer something to have for
  supper. It was a survivor of lifes battles.  The
  fish resembled Bishop. In a way, Bishop felt the
  fish was herself. She didnt want it to give up.
  She wanted the fish to survive more than the fish
  itself wanted to. So she let it return to the
  sea. 
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THEMES

• The poem shows that natures creatures are like
  humans in their ability to suffer and learn from
  that suffering.
• The poet shows us that something old and ugly has
  value and is worth respecting. She looks up to
  the fish. Its wounds make it honourablebattered
  and venerable I admired his sullen face.
• The poet shows mercy in dealing with a powerless
  fishand held him beside the boat half out of
  water.

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• The poet shows her ability to sympathies' with
  natureWhile his gills were breathing in the
  terrible oxygen.
• The poet appreciates a creature that ignores
  hernot to return my stare.
• Its over all theme is about the feeling of
  private triumph and moreover the pity and respect
  for ?others.

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• The Theme of 'True' Beauty or 'Inner' Beauty
  Neither her battered boat nor the "venerable" old
  fish is beautiful in conventional terms.

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• Imagery
• The images are mainly factual in this poem. The
  poem recalls accurately an event that happened in
  1938. There are three main groups of factual
  images.
• The first group contains physical images of the
  fish- tremendous fish.- mouth.- brown skin.
  - the big bones and the little bones.- his
  shiny entrails.- his eyes.- mechanism of his
  jaw.- his lower lip.

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• The second group contains factual images of the
  boat- the little rented boat- the pool of
  bilge- where oil had spread a rainbow- the
  sun-cracked thwarts- the oarlocks on their
  strings- the gunnels
• The third group contains factual images of
  fishing- my hook fast in a corner of his
  mouth.- five old pieces of fish-line.- with all
  their five big hooks grown firmly in his
  mouth.-A green line, frayed at the end where he
  broke it.
• -two heavier lines-and a fine black thread
  still crimped from the strain and snap.

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• Metaphor
• In this poem, there are many of metaphors. A
  metaphor compares two different things in order
  to illustrate one of them.
• venerable A metaphor that compares a thing
  such as a fish to a holy person is called
  personification.
• seen through the lenses of old scratched
  isinglassIn this metaphor, Bishop makes a
  strange comparison of the fishs eyes to white
  glass that doesnt let light through. She based
  this unclear metaphor on something she had seen
  in her own life.
• victory filled up the little rented boatThis
  is an interesting metaphor. It compares a thought
  such as victory to a physical material that
  fills a boat.
• everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!In
  this metaphor, Bishop compares the colorful
  surface of oily water to a rainbow.

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• Irony
• In lines five and six
• He didnt fight
• He hadnt fought at all
• The poem begins with this unexciting
  observation that is also ironic because later
  descriptions present the fish as a great warrior
  displaying its hooks and severed lines like war
  medals.
• In line sixty-six
• and victory filled up
• The speaker is presumably filled with
  victory because she has caught this legendary
  fish, but we recall from the beginning of the
  poem that he hadnt fought at all. Catching the
  fish was just luck rather than strength. Is she
  truly victorious or not? The fact that she lets
  the fish go at the end might cheapen the sense of
  victory (victors are boasters by nature), or it
  might bring that victory to a higher level (the
  appreciation of beauty outweighs any mundane
  victory).

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Simile in "The Fish"

• his brown skin hung in strips like ancient
  wallpaper, and its pattern of darker brown was
  like wallpaper shapes like full-blown roses
  stained and lost through age.
• There are three similes in these six lines, but
  two of the similes are the same The fishs skin
  is compared twice to wallpaper.. Immediately
  after these lines, in line 17, she compares the
  shapes on the fishs skin to something living
  (roses), but she qualifies the full-blown roses
  simile with a metaphor that compares barnacles to
  fine rosettes.

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• I thought of the coarse white flesh packed in
  like feathers
• Here she compares its flesh to feathers, which
  come from nature .
• Like medals with their ribbons frayed
  and wavering,.
• In the first similes, the fish was compared to
  wallpaper, something inanimate then its flesh
  was compared to feathers, something from another
  animal here the simile links the fish by
  extension to something human and more familiar.

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Symbol in "The Fish"

• He didnt fight. He hadnt fought at all.
• Fish are associated with freedom, because they
  must be caught before they can be controlled.
  They are also associated with the mysteries of
  nature.
• I admired his sullen face, if you could
  call it a lip
• In these two lines, the speaker displays
  symbolically another contradiction in the fishs
  status. It is personified when she admires his
  sullen face, using a gender-specific pronoun
  (his as opposed to its. Yet a few lines later,
  as she is describing the fishs lip, the speaker
  calls this personification into question.