The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop Analysis Essay Example

Elizabeth Bishop’s "The Fish'' inverts a classic fisherman story by embedding a series of literary devices throughout the poem. Rather than merely telling a tale that has been heard for ages, Bishop cleverly uses an array of literary devices, from similes to imagery, to appeal to the emotions of readers. In doing so, Bishop creates a poem that is seemingly simple at first glance, yet, the richness of the literary devices allows readers to deepen their understanding of her transformation, from feeling indifferent to the fish to admiring the beauty of it, in an almost magical way. Bishop not only establishes a relationship between herself and this fish but reveals the major problem of human pollution.

Although it appears that the poem is meant to tell a simple story, it is actually a string of literary devices that together form a coherent relationship transformation embedded throughout the poem. As the poem begins, Bishop incorporates various descriptive words and similes in a desire to reveal her first realization of the fish she had caught. She begins by addressing the fish as one that she will remember through her lifetime: 

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 Bishop describes the fish she caught as “tremendous.” This fish was unlike any other that she caught before. As Bishop glances at the fish, she describes it as “half out of water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth” and “battered,” “venerable,” and “homely." Bishop gives the fish human characteristics by calling it “venerable.” Calling someone venerable usually signifies how respected they are because of age or wisdom. Additionally, she also uses the word “homely” which means unattractive, which uncovers the speaker’s mixed emotions about the fish. She calls the fish respected, but at the same time, she calls it unattractive. Bishop then emphasizes the fact that when she caught the fish, “he didn’t fight / he hadn’t fought at all.”  Usually, when fish are captured, their first instinct is to swarm around to get free, but this fish did not make a single movement. This seems to be a surprise to the speaker as if she had never seen a fish that does not move upon capture. In this depiction, the fish seemed as if it was nearing the end of life. The only fish that do not attempt to escape are the ones that are severely ill and on the brink of their deaths. This is the first indication of the poor environment these fish live in. Humans have polluted the waters, which reduces the fish population as they succumb to their deaths. 

In lines 10-13, Bishop switches from describing the fish using descriptive words to comparing them to familiar objects. Descriptive words become imperative with a series of similes. For example:

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.

Here, the comparison between the brown skin and wallpaper allows the reader to visualize the appearance of this fish because the poet used a familiar household item. The wallpaper reference is something most, if not all readers, know. The phrase "ancient wallpaper" paints a vivid image of the condition of the fish. Ancient wallpaper is usually decaying and stained, with tares running throughout. Comparing a fish, or any living creature to this ancient wallpaper is a powerful mechanism that tells us the damage all fish have gone through because of humans polluting the water they inhabit. This analogy of the ancient wallpaper signifies that the fish is quite old already. However, no matter how faded or worn the fish is, it successfully withstood the test of time, similar to the wallpaper. She starts to admire the fish, even more, when she discovers the reality of the world. It has opened the eyes of the fisher to the dreadful conditions fish and other underwater creatures live in, because of humans.

Seemingly unable to silence the woes of the fish after lines and lines of emphatic imagery, Bishop concludes her story by using repetition and personification to reiterate her admiration for the fish. She begins by addressing it in line 65:

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

…

was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!

And I let the fish go.

Addressing the pollution problem, the poet again reveals her desire to communicate this as what made her admire the fish further. Bishop had “stared and stared” at the fish, and then stated that “oil had spread a rainbow.” This use of personification shows that the river has been heavily polluted. It seems as if Bishop feels both sorrow and admiration for the fish. On one hand, she finally realizes the poor conditions the fish had to survive through, something fishers do not think about when they attempt to catch the fish for food. On the other hand, she applauds the fish for their resilience to survive these conditions and avoid capture. However, the most powerful usage was the repetition of the word "rainbow" in line 75. "Rainbow" was repeated three times in one line, and the repetition came just before the fisher released the fish. The rainbow reminded me of the story of Noah and the Ark. God gives Noah a rainbow as a sign of peace/covenant between Him and the creatures of Earth. Humans and fish have been fighting with each other for so long, and as the fight continues, both are aging as time goes on. The rainbow could finally symbolize peace between humans and fish after so long. The last line of the poem ends with "And I let the fish go.” The speaker lets the fish go because she has too much respect for the fish. Bishop creates this aura of victory, coming from the appalling water where the rainbow has formed.

Ultimately, Bishop demonstrates how a classic fisherman tale is twisted with a simple use of literary devices. Through Bishop, we understand the full significance of her poem from the speaker’s mood. In the beginning, the speaker seems distant and unfamiliar with the fish. These emotions transition to the realization of how fish and humans are quite similar. Towards the end, Bishop has a colorful epiphany that causes her emotions to place her in the same reality as the fish. Rather than any other fisherman tale, the use of literary devices brings to light the complexity of the relationship between the fish and the fisher, hidden through the cracks of each line. The address to this relationship becomes a means of instigating the reality of other living creatures suffering due to human pollution.