Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Fish" was really enjoyable to read. I read it once, and I actually felt like I understood what the narrator was trying to tell the readers -- At least from my point of view I did.
This poem starts out by the narrator catching this huge, spectacular fish. When I first think about catching a huge, strong fish, I automatically visualize the fish fighting for its life, fighting to get free and back into the water; however, the narrator makes very clear in lines 5 and 6 that this fish wasn't putting up a fight at all --
"He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all."
Instead this fish seemed to accept defeat. As the narrator explained more, the fish wasn't a beauty, but was battered and obviously had some years on its lifeline. In lines 10-15, the fish was described as not only old, but ancient -- "...his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wall-paper." When I think of ancient wall-paper, I don't think of it being pretty and bright, I think of it being unique, and obviously this fish was one of a kind.
The narrator did a good job of describing this fish from top to bottom. I had a clear mental image of what perhaps this fish looked like. The fish not only had ancient looking scales, but the narrator noted the mouth of the fish in lines 50-55. The fish's mouth contained not one but five old pieces of fish-line with the hooks still attached. The old fish wasn't released from past fishermen, but he had escaped! What a prize the narrator caught! This fish was a wise one, but the narrator finally won the battle the fish had fought for a long time.
As the poem came to an end, the narrator's joy of catching this prize fish increased. My personal favorite lines from this poem were lines 66-67: "victory filled up/the little rented boat." Like I mentioned earlier, the narrator had finally defeated this fish -- she caught the fish that had probably years of experience of breaking fishing lines and escaping. Not this time, though, the fish's battle was over.
The narrator uses up about 2 pages of paper describing this fish and how awesome it felt to finally catch it, but at the end of the poem, the narrator throws us a curveball in line 75: "And I let the fish go." The narrator released her prize catch! Why you are probably thinking, because at first I asked why myself -- that’s the irony in this poem. The narrator was excited to have caught this fish, but at the end, realized the fish deserved to live his life. The fish had fought for his life for years and years, so why defeat the fish now? The narrator perhaps compared the old fish to herself, old and wise. This poem can be thought in many different directions. The fishermen gave life back to the fish, allowing it to continue on fighting.
9 comments:
I agree that the writer did a very good job of describing this ancient fish. I did find it interesting that at the beginning of the poem she found the fish to be ancient, and then she found the fish to be a great prize, and finally lets it go. I did like that the speaker spent so much time describing the different aspects of the fish. It helped me get a better picture of the fish and what she was seeing. I like how you were able to identify the ending of this poem. I agree that she let the fish go so that it could live the rest of its life fighting like it had for all the years before.
I agree that this poem was very ironic. The speaker wrote the whole time about how excited he/she was about catching this amazing fish, only to let it go. This meets the definition of irony perfectly in that it's not what we'd expect to happen. I think that the fisherman let the fish go out of respect. The fish had clearly fought and won many battles, so maybe the sportsman thought it a worthy apponent, and, therefore, worthy of life.
I also believe that the poem was fun and enjoyable to read. I like that you found it easy to visualize the descriptions that Elizabeth Bishop gave to us throughout the poem. Once the reader is able to visualize the different descriptions in the poem, it is easy to see the joy in fishing. It is also important to fully recognize the irony occurring when the fish is finally let go at the end of the poem. The narrator believes the fish has a purpose in life. I also agree with you that the poem can be thought of in many different directions, as does most poems. In this case, we both came to a conclusion that the man wanted to give life back to the fish and allow it to continue on fighting. Thanks for your thoughts!
I enjoyed reading this poem as well. I feel that everything you hit on in your post was spot on. I find it so interesting that the fisherman let the fish go even though it didn't put up a fight!
I have to say that I understood it as a message to respect the older and wiser beings around us and thought that it was because of all of the fight that was through the fish's life that we need to respect him. if he had that much experience and still got caught and didn't fight then maybe he was ready for a quick death and the fisherman let him go?
I agree that the writer did a great job describing the fish. I don't fish/hunt so I really appreciated the detailed description not to mention it made the fish seem more real and gave it it's own identity. I agree with Kayla that the reason she let him go at the end was out of respect and/or sportsmanship.
i enjoyed this poem as well and i agree with you that the author gives us a clear sense of how the fish looks like and how wonderful the fish is. beyond that, in my opinion, the author is admiring this fish and he thinks this fish is deserved to go.
I enjoy the way the author talks about the fish. She makes it seem so visual. When she talks about how it didn't have any fight at all, it paints a picture of this huge fish just hanging from the hook, motionless. I also like towards the end when she compares the fish to the boat in a way. Saying that it's old and rusty but it still runs. And the fish is old too so why can't it live on. Great analysis of the poem. I enjoyed your views.
This is a great analysis. The poem is very good as well and I do see a lot of irony in it. The fact that you try so hard for so long to make that one big catch, and than just like that you let it go. The fish faught his battles and deserved it.
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