Elizabeth Bishop The Fish
Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish" deals with the contact of a fisher with his just caught
victim. It's about the feeling of private triumph and moreover the pity and respect for
others.
The poem which is told the reader by a first person narrator starts with the fact that
the fisher just caught the fish without having to struggle. It wasn't hard for him to
catch the fish because he didn't make an effort to escape. The fish which he is
holding beside the boat is in a pretty bad shape. His skin resembles an "ancient
wallpaper" and he is "speckled with barnacles". By staring at the fish, the fisher's
feeling of success and superiority grows more and more.
However, while he is looking in the large and yellowed eyes of his little friend, he
starts to admire the appearance of his victim. He is concentrating on the "sullen face" and "the mechanism of his jaw" and suddenly discovers five old pieces of fish-line hanging out of the fish's mouth.......
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Approximate Word Count: 759
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |