Enderson Velasquez
ENC 1102

A normal day fishing in the ocean can bring surprises with it. “The Fish” is a poem written by Elizabeth Bishop about her own story when she catches a huge fish while she is in a rented boat. After she catches the fish, she holds it up half out of the water. The fish looks pretty ugly, tired, and old with “shapes like full-blown roses, stained and lost through age” (lines 14-15). Algae is growing on it, and she realizes that the fish has five fishing hooks with the lines still partially attached hanging from its jaw. The speaker start to think how tough this fish must be and how much the fish probably fought through his life to survive. She begins to respect the fish. The story takes a final turn when she lets the fish go. The Theme of the poem is that great lessons can be learned from simple situations in life like a normal day fishing in the ocean. At first the speaker says “I caught a tremendous fish” (1). That is a simple description, then the speaker gives some detail about the fish and how it looks “his brown skin hung like strips like ancient wall-paper”. At this point, the fish is nothing special. After that, the speaker begins to examine the fish more closely, and she imagines the inside of the fish “dramatic reds and blacks,”(30) and a “pink swim-bladder.”(32) The fact that she is using her imagination in connection with the fish implied that the fish has a meaning behind simply being caught. The narrator learned from the persistence and dedication that the fish has. The fish has been caught five time as his fishing hooks shows, and he has survived. The poet using the expression “like medals.” Shows the respect she feels for the fish. At the end, she seems to have a sense of victory. She caught the fish that always got away before. But her respect for the fish who has won five battles makes her decide let the fish go.
Detail and imagery help to solidify the reader’s personal relationship with the fish. The beauty of detail and imagery in this poem establishes the ironic beauty in the fish.” His brown skin hung in strips/ like ancient wall-paper, / … shapes like full-blown roses/ stained and lost throughout age.” (Lines 14-15). Normally, people do not see beauty in suffering in death, but somehow Bishop washes the reader’s with sensitive images. After noticing the five other lines grown into the fish’s lip, the fisherman compares them to “medals with their ribbons/ frayed and wavering, / a five-haired beard of wisdom/ trailing from his aching jaw.” Personification is also present in the poem, the way she describes the fish helps the reader to visualize and respect it. Here, the fish is depicted as gentle, aged, wise, and respected, like a war hero. The fish is vaguely personified in that he wears the medals of victory in battle, and he sports a five-haired beard of wisdom. Bishop is a master of similes. The first in the poem discusses his skin; “his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper”. Bishop uses the word “ancient” instead of a simply “old” to tell the reader “the fish is ugly but it is a respect creature”. Another simile includes her comparison of his “coarse white flesh packed in like feathers.” This gives the reader an idea of how the flesh might have felt. "He hung a grunting weight, / battered and venerable, / and homely." Here the fish is again described in the terms one would use for an old man.
The narration would not be as good as it is without the use of detail because these elements works together inside the narration to create successful language. Bishop uses of tone helps the readers to feel sympathy within and triumph at the end of the poem. The tone in this poem can be different since the speaker is having a normal day which ends in a great learned experience. The tone at the beginning of the poem is proud, admiring and with a sense of triumph. The speaker is proud when she says “I caught a tremendous fish”, the speaker also uses words such as “venerable”, “like medals with their ribbons… a five-haired beard of wisdom”, and “I admired his sullen face, / the mechanism of his jaw…I stared and stared.” To show her admiration for the fish, and “victory filled up the little rent boat” to express triumph. A Humble and compassion tone is also present in the poem. When the speaker says “I looked into his eyes/ … shallower, and yellowed, the irises backed and packed/ with tarnished tinfoil.” Bishop expresses her sense of compassion for the fish. At the end of the poem, the speaker says “and I let the fish go.” Showing also compassion.