The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop Analysis Poem
I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn’t fight.
He hadn’t fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
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.
He was speckled with barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
—the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly—
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
—It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
—if you could call it a lip—
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
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
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels—until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.
About the Poem and the Poet
Elizabeth Bishop, an only child, was born to William Thomas and Gertrude May (Bulmer) Bishop in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. She was an American short-story writer and poet.
Students can also check the English Summary to revise with them during exam preparation.
She was a Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949-1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in the year 1956, the National Book Award winner in the year 1970, and the receiver of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in the year 1976.
‘The Fish’, composed by Elizabeth Bishop, is considered to be one of the best poems of her career. In this poem, the readers can find and get some clues about the author’s personal life.
Although not much is known about Bishop’s life, she did spend time fishing as a young girl. She likely experienced something similar to the events depicted in ‘The Fish.’
‘The Fish’, written by Elizabeth Bishop, is a narrative poem. It describes the reaction of the speaker after catching a homely, venerable and large fish.
Here the poem begins with the speaker telling the reader that she went fishing and caught a “tremendous fish”. She emphasizes that the fish did not fight at all as she was reeling.
Bishop has used three adjectives to describe it. They are “battered,” “venerable,” and “homely”. Bishop goes on to give in-depth details about the state of the skin in the next lines. She compares it with the old wallpaper that is peeling off the walls of an ancient house.
In the next seven lines, the blood’s sight inspires the speaker to consider the fish’s insides. From experience catching, killing, and eating these animals, she knows that the “white flesh“ is “packed in like feathers”.
Most importantly, she notes that there are “five old pieces of the fishing line”, and they are all “still attached” to the “five big hooks”. The speaker then continues to stare at the fish, and she then begins to feel the sense of victory.
She also notices that the oil in the boat and how it spread into a rainbow. The speaker was astonished by these observations. All of a sudden, all things seemed to be a rainbow. This new condition of mind encouraged her to release the fish.
The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop Analysis Themes
‘The Fish’ is one of those compositions that seem to be very simple from the outside but contains great depths of meaning inside. In the poem, the writer engages with themes of nature, humility, and choices. After catching this extremely noteworthy fish, it is her choice to free it and let it go back into the water.
She had a second connection with the creature that spread out into a broader connection with the natural world. She was unexpectedly more a part of things than she had been in the past; her state of mind was altered. Additionally, this particular creature’s history moved her, the number of times it had been caught, and how each time it escaped death. This speaks to another less obvious theme–death.
The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop Analysis Structure and Form
It is written in free verse, meaning no particular pattern of rhyme or meter to the lines. In the entire, there are 76 lines contained within a single stanza. They are all similar in length, fairly short, and sometimes stray into the realm trimeter. This means that although nowhere close to all of them, many consists of three sets of two beats. Again, there is not a single pattern of rhythm to the text.
When looking through the poem, the reader will straight away notice the dashes. Bishop selected to incorporate this form of punctuation into the poem to make the reader pause and think about what her speaker just said. Frequently, the dashes are also used to represent the speaker’s uncertainty. She pauses to analyze her own words before continuing.
The Fish By Elizabeth Bishop Analysis Literary Techniques
There is no rhyming plot in the poem, but there are still a few complete or perfect rhyme moments. For instance, a reader can look to lines one and six with the words “caught“ and “fought”, respectively. The word “thought” connects to the word “fight” directly above it in line number five, as well as to “out” in line three. These relate to one another due to unity or the use of similar consonant sounds.
Repetition appears in different forms throughout the text. There are examples of its line numbers seventy and seventy-one, using and reusing the word “rusted”. Another point is in line sixty-five with the reuse of the word “stared”.
Alliteration is the use of words in progression, or at least seem close together and start with the same letter. This is one of the most used devices used several times in the poem, ‘The Fish.’ For an idea, in line number thirty-eight, she used the phrase “tarnished tinfoil.”
One more poetic technique Bishop makes use of is simile. There are a few examples, such as inline twenty-eight, when the speaker describes the fish’s flesh as ‘packed like feathers’.
Exploration of The Fish
From Lines One- Seven
“I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
…
He hadn’t fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,”
In the first few lines of ‘The Fish,’ the speaker states that she went fishing and captured a “tremendous fish”. As fast as the fish was out of the water, she began a fierce period of inspection. Maybe due in part to surprise, the speaker doesn’t immediately heave the fish into the boat. It is half out of the water, and she notes that her hook is caught in the corner portion of its mouth, where one would anticipate it to be.
In lines five and six, this speaker stresses that as she was reeling in the fish, it did not fight at all. This seems surprising because the fish is so huge. There is a unique possibility that if it had fought, then it could’ve snapped in the line and gotten away.
A reader should note the use of anaphora in lines five, six, and seven. Even though the fish did not fight when she staggered it in, it had a deadweight, which demonstrated a distinct kind of hostility.
Lines eight to thirteen
“battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
(…)
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:”
In the first two lines, Bishop uses three adjectives to emphasize the fish. It is “battered,” “venerable,“ and “homely”. At first, these three phrases appear to cancel one another out. But that is not it at all. Through the word battered, Bishop’s speaker acknowledges that this is not the first time the fish has been captured.
It also possibly references injuries the fish went through in the water itself. When she utilizes the word venerable, she is exhibiting her respect for the animal. She has noted down the past injuries and the scars which have taken place. She knows that the fish has power, endurance, and perseverance that should be respected. At last, she calls the fish homely. This is a word meaning unattractive.
She goes on about the next lines, giving in-depth features about the fish’s skin. Bishop uses a simile to describe its position. She contrasts it to old wallpaper that is peeling off the walls of an old house. As the strips come off, the skin beneath is revealed, and a new pattern is created as the two different textures and colours compare to one another.
Line Fourteen to Twenty-six
“shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
(…)
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly —”
In the first two lines of ‘The Fish,’ the speaker uses additional similes to compare the peeling skin shapes to “full-blown roses”. This is an additional reference to a wallpaper pattern. But, she makes sure to draw attention to the fact that the paper pattern has been lost to history. However, it used to look; those pictures are long gone.
There are different textures on the skin as well. The speaker returns to the wallpaper simile again due to this. They were “fine rosettes of lime” and “barnacles”. The speaker ensures she doesn’t get too far from the “homely” features of the creature. Sea lice invade these barnacles and rosettes.
She also notes the impact the oxygen is having on the fish. It is fighting through its violent introduction to this very distinct world. The oxygen is explained as “terrible” and the gills as “frightening”. They move as though terrified themselves. There is also blood; as a result of the hook in the fish’s mouth.
Lines twenty-seven to thirty-three
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
(…)
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
In the next seven lines, the blood’s sight inspires the speaker to consider the fish’s inside. From experience catching, killing, and eating these animals, she knows that the “white flesh“ is “packed in like feathers”.
With this simile in mind, she describes the different size bones and the dramatic, contrasting, and evocative colours and shapes one would see inside the fishes body. There is another simile that relates to the roses of the wallpaper. This time around, the “swim bladder” is similar to a “big peony” flower.
Lines Thirty-four to Forty-four
“I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
(…)
— It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.”
The speaker also ensures to draw a differentiation between the fish and herself. She sees that his eyes are much larger than hers, but they are also narrower and yellower.
Just like the fish’s bowels, there is a shine to its eyes. They appear like “tarnished tinfoil”. She links the fish to the human body again and the act of putting on glasses. The fish’s eyes shifts in their sockets, but not to look at her. She is just another thing in this terrible yet known world. As the eyes shifts, she contrasts them to things “tipping toward the light”.
Lines Forty-five to fifty-five
“I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
(…)
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.”
The fish is additionally personified or contrasted with humans when she emphasizes its face as “sullen”. She also starts to speak about its lower lip and then pauses. The dashes indicate this moment. She is because it may not be a lip. It is more like armaments and much grimmer than a human lip.
Most importantly, she notes that there are “five old pieces of the fishing line” in the fish’s lips. They are all still fasten to their five big hooks, and their lifetime is determined by the truth that they have “grown firmly in his mouth”.
Lines fifty-six to sixty-four
“A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
(…)
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.”
The speaker takes the next line to detail what the hooks and fishing line seems like. The detailed study of these features makes the poem reduce down. It feels as if the schedule itself is moving at a slow pace. She looks at the fish, entranced by its lifetime and history. The speaker looks at the hooks and their attached strings not as burdens but as metals. They speak to its venerability and strength.
The speaker is competent in sympathizing with the fish. She explains the hairs on its chin as a sign of wisdom and determines that its jaw must be aching.
Lines Sixty-five to seventy-five
“I stared and stared
and victory filled up
(…)
Was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.”
The speaker stares at the fish, and she starts to feel a sense of win. As if she surmounted a few great hurdles with the catch of this creature. Again, there is a huge amount of explanation used to slow the lines down. She takes attention to the oil in the boat and the way it had grown into a rainbow. The speaker also saw how the “thwarts” had been cracked by the sun and several other small details.
These elements, combined, impart to the reader that she is in awe of the creature and has a transcendent second in its presence. Ultimately, the beauty of the scene overcomes her, and everything transforms into a rainbow of oil. In the last and concluding line, Bishop’s speaker admits that she let the fish go. Now, her success seems distinct.
The thought that she caught the fish does not speak to her power or skill. Five people before her had achieved the same thing. The last line shows that all of them had a similar abstract moment. They were all affected to release the fish back into the waterbody.
It also speaks to the chance that the fish had some understanding of its impact on those who caught it. Because it does not fight, maybe it knew that it was not in any real trouble. It just had to undergo temporary pain and terror, and then it would be let go.