Elizabeth Bishop- The Fish

(Poem Essay, 1st assignment at WMU, ENG 1100)

            “The Fish” written by Elizabeth Bishop in 1946 is a narrative poem. This poem tells the readers about a woman who has caught a fish but then releases the poor creature in the end. As a matter of fact, the woman has become soft and freed the fish because she saw some similarities between the fish and her. In addition to the reason of why she has released the marine animal is that the title “The Fish” also creates an impact to the readers that this is not an ordinary fish (Shmoop). Elizabeth Bishop, the main character of the poem and also the writer, has created a variety of imageries and interesting descriptive words to ease readers in imagining the plot of her poem.

          First of all let us discuss about the setting of this non-rhyming poem. The words “sea-lice” and “barnacles” mentioned in the poem make us think that the fisherperson is fishing in saltwater. The location might be in the gulf, sea, bay or ocean but certainly not the high seas. This is because the fisherperson has been using the “little rented boat” during the whole fishing process (Shmoop).

Next on, the poem is filled with vivid imageries and abundant descriptions to encourage readers to visualize the actions going on in the poem. Throughout the poem, the poet has described the fish clearly. In the beginning of the poem, Bishop has effectively chosen words like: “tremendous”, “battered”, “venerable” and “homely” to describe the hideous looks of the fish reeled by the woman. The word “tremendous” can mean “big” or “wonderful” or “the capacity to make one tremble”. This connotation of the word dramatically describes that the fisherperson has reeled a great fish. She also compares the fish’s scales to “ancient wallpaper” and “full-blown roses” that have “lost through age”. It is very important to pay attention that at first she compares the fish’s skin to something artificial (wallpaper), and immediately after that, she compares the shapes of the fish’s skin to something living (roses). She compares the fish to objects that are familiar to all readers for easy understandability (Virtual lit).

          Despite the ugly appearance of the fish, there seems to be a spark of relationship between the fish and the woman. This is because, the woman has spared her time to glance and examine the fish. In life, we often come across certain things that may remind us of ourselves and our lives. Similarly, in this poem, the thing is the fish. The fish has gone through visible struggles in life and has the characteristics of “age”, “hardship”, and “renewal”. As a result, the fisherwoman has released the fish for it to live on (Sarazyn, 2010).

Older people are said to be wiser as they have encountered more experiences in life. Humans are said to be ageing when they are having wrinkled skin, silver hair and men having beards. Meanwhile, we know that a fish is old from its lips. The older the fish means the more damaged its lips are. This is due to all the hooks they have caught in their lives. The lips of the fish in the poem reveal "hung five old pieces of fish-line" (51). The fish also has "a five-haired beard of wisdom"(64). The fish has a beard of hooks. The scars from the hooks represent the achievement of being victorious from being captured by fishermen. Likewise, the poet sees that humans overcome struggles in life in the same point of view as fishes overcoming hooks (Sarazyn, 2010).

In the poem, the fisherwoman exclaims "rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!"(74). “The oil had spread a rainbow around the rusted engine”. Rainbows usually come out after a heavy rainfall to symbolize “renewal” and “cleansing of nature” (Sarazyn, 2010). In the Book of Genesis, God promised that He would never again destroy the earth by flood. And as a sign of covenant, God put a rainbow in the sky. According to the poem’s case, the fisherwoman may have recalled a time when she has been given a chance of renewal and so she releases the fish to live on and be a wiser marine animal (Sarazyn, 2010).

In connection with “rainbow”, the poet has chosen a lot of colors to enhance the fish’s description. Moreover, the colors chosen in the beginning of the poem seems a little boring. But as the poem proceeds, the colors chosen are becoming more and more vibrant. For the first time, readers are able to visualize the color of the fish as “brown” (12). Furthermore, there is “white” referring to the sea-lice and the fish’s meat (19 & 27), the more dramatic colors of “reds and blacks” of the “shiny entrails”(30), the swim-bladder of which “pink” in color(32), the “yellow” large eyes (36), the “green” fish-line (56), the “orange” of the rusted engine (71). Lastly, the “rainbow” functions as an epiphany or the Eureka moment of discovering what to do with the fish which precedes letting the fish go. In other words, the full spectrum colors symbolize the speaker putting all the pieces together in order to make the decision to release the fish (Shmoop).

Speaking of Bishop’s tone, she expertly shifts the narrator’s tone during her poem. She begins with short, clipped sentences in describing the fish. Then later on, she uses longer and more descriptive sentences as the poem progresses. Finally, she repeats the word “rainbow” a few times and as if being charmed by the fish, she releases the fish (Larken).

Releasing the fish has brought victory to both the woman as well as the fish. The speaker is filled with “victory” because she has caught this legendary fish. However, the fish “hadn't fought at all” which means that this fish has finally given up after being able to escape five fisherpersons before the woman caught him and not even bothered to escape this time. Basically, the woman is just lucky to have caught the fish in the first place. Well, in the end, the woman lets go off the fish after observing the fish’s beauty.

In conclusion, the purpose of this poem is to show the empathy, respect and admiration the fisherwoman has for the fish. The description of the fish also shows that the fish has had a long and prosperous life. And the hooks that hang from its lip symbolize victory and strength (EliteSkills.com). Moreover, this poem also creates a moral aspect of human beings appreciating nature. The fish is released because the fisherwoman feels that it deserves to live. The fisherperson herself might have pitied the fish which has struggled numerous jaw-dropping moments in its life. Bishop and her poetry believe that humans are “to revise their theories and themselves”, knowing that they will need further revision throughout their lives (Ford, 2007).

References

ELITE SKILLS.COM http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/The_Fish_by_Elizabeth_Bishop_analysis.php

FORD, KATIE. POETS.ORG. “VISIBILITY IS POOR: ELIZABETH BISHOP’S OBESESSIVE IMAGERY AND MYSTICAL UNSAYING. 2007. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19646

LARKIN, PHILIP. HOW POEMS WORK. September 22, 2008 http://howpoemswork.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/elizabeth-bishop-the-fish/

SARAZYN, NATALIE. ASSOCIATED CONTENT. Feb 6, 2010. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2668217/analysis_of_the_fish_by_elizabeth_bishop_pg2.html?cat=4

SHMOOP                                                                                                                         http://www.shmoop.com/fish-bishop/color-symbol.html                                                                                                                       http://www.shmoop.com/fish-bishop/title.html

VIRTUAL LIT                       http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/fish_exercises/fish_tone_ex.html