In the poem The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop, Bishop effortlessly conjures up vivid and clear imagery for something so mundane and seemingly uninteresting as a fish. Bishop wrote "He didn’t fight. He hadn’t fought at all. He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and homely" by this we see that the fish didn't seem to have the will to fight, it seems as though it has given up that its tired of fighting back .
Along with that we also learn by the line "Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering, a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw" that this fish has been through trials and hardships, it has learned through the years how to survive. But after being caught for possibly the sixth time the fish seems to have maybe given up, grown tired of fighting back.
As she goes own she comments not only on its will but on its appearance showing the fish in a new light, comparing it with such things as flowers. Which someone would usually relate to as something pretty or nice to look at. In the very beginning of the poem it is made known that the fish was old and weathered, not something one would say is beautiful. She writes "He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime... the pink swim-bladder like a big peony", by doing so she is seamlessly comparing something that is seen as sometimes "ugly" as something, if looked at, really looked at and examined can be seen as something beautiful. People don't always see things for what they are or see the true potential of things.
I feel the fish in itself symbolizes two things. Being strong and being able to take care of yourself but also seeing things in a different light. Don't make a snap judgement on something until you really see it and know it for what it is, what it means and what its been through.
At the end the fish is released back into the water. I feel the fisherman did this not because he felt sorry for the fish but because he felt pride and self satisfaction in himself for his accomplishment of catching this fish that has gotten away so many other times.
I completely agree with this response. I feel I got the same concepts out of the reading. Espescially at the end when you said he lt the fish go not only because he felt sorry but because he felt he had made an accomplishment by catching the tremendous fish.
ReplyDelete"People don't always see things for what they are or see the true potential of things." You expressed that very well. I agree that it takes a great deal of self-education and introspection to see beauty in non-conventional places and things. Everyone agrees that flowers are beautiful; but who can find beauty in mold? I remember another writer who wrote a poem entitled "Flowers of Mold". It's such a powerful image just like the capacity of seeing beauty in "conventional ugliness". This is indeed a topic of many pieces of literature. Sometimes beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Many times we encounter characters (even in fairy tales - the Beauty fell in love with the Beast)who have revelatory moments, such as the speaker in The Fish, and end up seeing beyond the apparent ugly surface.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you're commenting on specific images. If you look closely, you'll see that even those that seem straight-forward convey the ambiguity of her encounter with the fish, her discomfort about her use (if not exploitation) of the fish--"rosettes," yes, but made of "lime"--this sort of double awareness pervades the poem.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we want to avoid diminishing the more complex meaning of the encounter--certainly more going on at the end then simply a fisherman's pride, right? (also, we can assume the speaker is a she...)
I really like the positive message you received from reading this. I completely agree when you said "Being strong and being able to take care of yourself but also seeing things in a different light". Its very true, that sometimes when you look at someones accomplishments in life you gain a whole new image of them, and see a beauty you may have never noticed in the respect you find for them. Great blog!
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