The Fish
1946
Kaylah Jones
Mia Klopfenstein
Geneve Lau
Background
❍
❍
Key West - Florida island
Bishop’s literary style- inspiration from Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell,
opposing themes
❍
Groupings of Bishop’s poetry into themes
❍ Descriptive and objective (inspired by Moore):
❍ “The Map”, “The Fish”, “Filling Station”
❍ Personal and emotional (inspired by Lowell):
❍ “Insomnia”, “One Art”, “Crusoe in England”
Summary of Poem
❍
Bishop is in a fishing boat
❍
Catches a fish, more precisely, a “tremendous fish”
❍
Holds the fish and examines his physical features
❍
Stares the fish in the eye
❍
She examines the fishing line hanging from the fish from when he had been caught
before
❍
She then examines her settings- and lets the fish go
How does Bishop articulate
her impressions of the
physical world through
the dichotomy
of human and nature?
Enjambment
I caught a tremendous fish
While his gills were breathing in
and held him beside the boat
the terrible oxygen
half out of water, with my hook
-the frightening gills,
fast in a corner of his mouth.
fresh and crisp with blood,
...
that can cut so badly-
He hung a grunting weight,
...
battered and venerable
I looked into his eyes
and homely. Here and there
which were far larger than mine
his brown skin hung in strips
but shallower, and yellowed,
...
the irises backed and packed
and its pattern of darker brown
with tarnished tinfoil
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
⇒ Running on to following
sentences
⇒ Start of a sentence in a
stanza, free verse style
⇒ Single thoughts continuing to
multiple lines, flowing
Symbolism
Shapes like full blown roses
⇒ Roses- flowers
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
⇒ Barnacles- smaller animals, often
fine rosettes of lime,
forgotten
and infested
Sea lice- parasitic animals
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
⇒ Venerable- attained a great
deal of respect, honorable
⇒ Ancient wallpaper-
like ancient wallpaper,
with tiny white sea-lice
memories, humans
and its patterns of darker brown
...
thinking that nature
…
needs to be on display
I thought of the coarse white flesh ⇒ White flesh- whale blubber
⇒ Feathers- birds
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.
⇒ Big animals + little
⇒ Ugly fish, beautiful on the inside?
⇒ Peony- flowers
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom ⇒ Wisdom of animals
trailing from his aching jaw.
⇒ Aching jaw, speaking loudly
but not being heard
In what ways does
Bishop convey
the theme that
liberation is a result
of empathy?
Overview for Guiding Question 2
Liberation
nif
Relatable conditions
Gained appreciation
Pe
rso
ile
Imagery
Sim
ica
tio
n
Shared knowledge
Empathy
Empathy
the ability to understand and share the feelings
of another
Liberation
freedom from limits on thought, behavior, or
preconceived notion
Personification
I caught a tremendous fish
I admired his sullen face,
and held him beside the boat
the mechanism of his jaw,
half out of water, with my hook
and then I saw
fast in a corner of his mouth.
that from his lower lip
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
—if you could call it a lip—
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
Like medals with their ribbons
- the frightening gills,
frayed and wavering,
fresh and crisp with blood,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
that can cut so badlyI thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
trailing from his aching jaw.
Imagery
Here and there
from the pool of bilge
his brown skin hung in strips
where oil had spread a rainbow
like ancient wallpaper,
around the rusted engine
and its pattern of darker brown
to the bailer rusted orange:
was like wallpaper…
until everything
the dramatic reds and blacks
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
of his shiny entrails,
And I let the fish go.
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
⇒
Brightness of colors transition over time
⇒
Bishop mentions almost every color in the rainbow
▫
Brown, lime, white, green, red, black, pink,
yellow, orange
⇒
Ends with the color rainbow
▫
Also the point where she lets the fish go
Imagery
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.
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
He was speckled with barnacles, 8
trailing from his aching jaw.
fine rosettes of lime,
I stared and stared
and infested
and victory filled up
with tiny white sea-lice,
the little rented boat,
and underneath two or three
from the pool of bilge
rags of green weed hung down.
where oil had spread a rainbow
While his gills were breathing in
around the rusted engine
the terrible oxygen
- the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly-
Simile
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
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
—It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
...
stained and lost through age.
I thought of the coarse white flesh
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and
...
snap
packed in like feathers,
when it broke and he got away.
the big bones and the little bones,
Like medals with their ribbons
the dramatic reds and blacks
frayed and wavering,
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
Liberation
Beginning
End
I caught a tremendous fish
and victory filled up
and held him beside the boat
the little rented boat,
half out of water, with my hook
from the pool of bilge
fast in a corner of his mouth.
where oil had spread a rainbow
He didn’t fight.
around the rusted engine
He hadn’t fought at all.
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.
Now… discussion!
Topics to consider:
“The Fish” in
regards to other
poems we have
studied by
Elizabeth Bishop
Context: what
issues were
occurring during
the time Bishop
wrote this time she
felt strongly about?
Other themes?
Love, morality?
What are some of
your key takeaways
from this poem?
Things that you felt
confused about?
Works Cited
Bishop, Elizabeth. “The Fish.” Academy of American Poets. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/fish-2. Web. 09 Oct. 2016
Ebberson, Laura. "Elizabeth Bishop's Poetic Voice: Reconciling Influences." Valparaiso Poetry Review (n.d.): n. pag. Print.
"The Poet Homes of Key West, FL." Academy of American Poets. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.