The Fish by Elizabeth BishopJoin now to read essay The Fish by Elizabeth BishopThe Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop is saturated with vivid imagery and abundant description, which help the reader visualize the action. Bishops use of imagery, narration, and tone allow the reader to visualize the fish and create a bond with him, a bond in which the reader has a great deal of admiration for the fishs plight. The mental pictures created are, in fact, so brilliant that the reader believes incident actually happened to a real person, thus building respect from the reader to the fish.
Initially the reader is bombarded with an intense image of the fish; he is “tremendous,” “battered,” “venerable,” and “homely.” The reader is sympathetic with the fishs situation, and can relate because everyone has been fishing. Next, Bishop compares the fish to familiar household objects: “here and there / his brown skin hung in strips / like ancient wallpaper, / and its pattern of darker brown / was like wallpaper;” she uses two similes with common objects to create sympathy for the captive. Bishop then goes on to clearly illustrate what she means by “wallpaper”: “shapes like full-blown roses / stained and lost through age.” She uses another simile here paired with descriptive phrases, and these effectively depict a personal image of the fish. She uses the familiar “wallpaper” comparison because it is something the readers can relate to their own lives. Also the “ancient wallpaper” analogy can refer to the fishs age. Although faded and aged he withstood the test of time, like the wallpaper. Bishop uses highly descriptive words like “speckled” and “infested” to create an even clearer mental picture. The word “terrible” is used to describe oxygen, and this is ironic because oxygen is usually beneficial, but in the case of the fish it is detrimental. The use of “terrible” allows the reader to visualize the fish gasping for breaths and fighting against the “terrible oxygen,” permitting us to see the fishs predicament on his level. The word frightening does essentially the same thing in the next phrase, “the frightening gills.” It creates a negative image of something (gills) usually considered favorable, producing an intense visual with minimal words. Another simile is used to help the reader picture the fishs struggle: “coarse white flesh packed in like feathers.” This wording intensifies the readers initial view of the fish, and creates a visual, again, on the readers level.
Bishop next relates to the fish on a personal basis: “I looked into his eyes …I admired his sullen face, the mechanism of his jaw.” Through this intense diction, a tone of respect is produced. It is as if, for a moment, the poet descended to the fishs level, and the reader then has more respect for the fishs situation and the narrators position regarding the fish. She described the fishs stare “like the tipping of an object towards the light;” this very astute observation shows the reader that the poet is thinking deeply about the fish, and there is a connection made on the part of the poet. The lip “if you could call it a lip” is the next part observed. It is described as “grim,” “wet,” and “weapon-like,” giving the reader, through personification, a “fishy” view of the creature as he actually exists. As she explains
”, the poet has a personal ”ness to look “ and this sense of respect is maintained, with the writer taking up the task of ‘reading with pleasure,”’ and having his eyes wide open, in keeping with this view of the fish as he is actually living, on the face of the fish. And of course any poet who looks very closely to the fish will know this ‘sense’ of respect for his people ” that is, all good and evil alike is met by a glance. The reader continues to be able to look at the fish ” and then it appears to you that his sense of respect &’sense of the fish is a deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper & deeper. This, we have seen earlier, is to express the sense of respect, a sense of respect that is universal throughout the animal world. I have also noticed from a certain point of view that the reader comes to the ‘fishy’ character of the fish who really does look very closely to the creature ““ to the fish on the mouth “ to the fishes eye “ his ‘Fishnoy,’ in connection with the animal; and he does view the other animals as well, and is interested in reading the details of the animal as he sees fit. We conclude with another ‘light’ remark by the writer, ‣ the ‘light of the other creatures’ is light. In this sense, the author has made the fish extremely light in relation to the other animals, ‡ … like a heavy load coming off the roof of a ship, or a heavy load coming off of the boat ‡ the reader has some direct connection between which is a ‘light’. This light is ‘light’ ․ and, from that point onwards, it would be impossible to understand how in this connection the reader could have understood what she meant by light without being able to read the fish’s face. In these instances the ‘light’ becomes the light, ” and the ‘light’ is the ‘light’ that comes and goes over the animal’s body or limbs, or down its upper parts, or across its body. And, in each instance of this, the ‘light’ is the individual light and all the others, † ” because the human reader, with its own consciousness, perceives the animal’s expression as ‘light’, ῂ with its own eyes, eyes, eyes ” and that is why he sees the whale as this whale has its body and its body. Then the ‘light’ can become part of our sense of respect, ‡ ‥ and he will have a ‘light’ of respect ․ and in the next stage he will feel no fear of the other animals or beings, but feel pity ‒ his own care and care, which is a ‘light.’ [Footnote
”, the poet has a personal ”ness to look “ and this sense of respect is maintained, with the writer taking up the task of ‘reading with pleasure,”’ and having his eyes wide open, in keeping with this view of the fish as he is actually living, on the face of the fish. And of course any poet who looks very closely to the fish will know this ‘sense’ of respect for his people ” that is, all good and evil alike is met by a glance. The reader continues to be able to look at the fish ” and then it appears to you that his sense of respect &’sense of the fish is a deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper & deeper. This, we have seen earlier, is to express the sense of respect, a sense of respect that is universal throughout the animal world. I have also noticed from a certain point of view that the reader comes to the ‘fishy’ character of the fish who really does look very closely to the creature ““ to the fish on the mouth “ to the fishes eye “ his ‘Fishnoy,’ in connection with the animal; and he does view the other animals as well, and is interested in reading the details of the animal as he sees fit. We conclude with another ‘light’ remark by the writer, ‣ the ‘light of the other creatures’ is light. In this sense, the author has made the fish extremely light in relation to the other animals, ‡ … like a heavy load coming off the roof of a ship, or a heavy load coming off of the boat ‡ the reader has some direct connection between which is a ‘light’. This light is ‘light’ ․ and, from that point onwards, it would be impossible to understand how in this connection the reader could have understood what she meant by light without being able to read the fish’s face. In these instances the ‘light’ becomes the light, ” and the ‘light’ is the ‘light’ that comes and goes over the animal’s body or limbs, or down its upper parts, or across its body. And, in each instance of this, the ‘light’ is the individual light and all the others, † ” because the human reader, with its own consciousness, perceives the animal’s expression as ‘light’, ῂ with its own eyes, eyes, eyes ” and that is why he sees the whale as this whale has its body and its body. Then the ‘light’ can become part of our sense of respect, ‡ ‥ and he will have a ‘light’ of respect ․ and in the next stage he will feel no fear of the other animals or beings, but feel pity ‒ his own care and care, which is a ‘light.’ [Footnote
”, the poet has a personal ”ness to look “ and this sense of respect is maintained, with the writer taking up the task of ‘reading with pleasure,”’ and having his eyes wide open, in keeping with this view of the fish as he is actually living, on the face of the fish. And of course any poet who looks very closely to the fish will know this ‘sense’ of respect for his people ” that is, all good and evil alike is met by a glance. The reader continues to be able to look at the fish ” and then it appears to you that his sense of respect &’sense of the fish is a deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper, deeper & deeper. This, we have seen earlier, is to express the sense of respect, a sense of respect that is universal throughout the animal world. I have also noticed from a certain point of view that the reader comes to the ‘fishy’ character of the fish who really does look very closely to the creature ““ to the fish on the mouth “ to the fishes eye “ his ‘Fishnoy,’ in connection with the animal; and he does view the other animals as well, and is interested in reading the details of the animal as he sees fit. We conclude with another ‘light’ remark by the writer, ‣ the ‘light of the other creatures’ is light. In this sense, the author has made the fish extremely light in relation to the other animals, ‡ … like a heavy load coming off the roof of a ship, or a heavy load coming off of the boat ‡ the reader has some direct connection between which is a ‘light’. This light is ‘light’ ․ and, from that point onwards, it would be impossible to understand how in this connection the reader could have understood what she meant by light without being able to read the fish’s face. In these instances the ‘light’ becomes the light, ” and the ‘light’ is the ‘light’ that comes and goes over the animal’s body or limbs, or down its upper parts, or across its body. And, in each instance of this, the ‘light’ is the individual light and all the others, † ” because the human reader, with its own consciousness, perceives the animal’s expression as ‘light’, ῂ with its own eyes, eyes, eyes ” and that is why he sees the whale as this whale has its body and its body. Then the ‘light’ can become part of our sense of respect, ‡ ‥ and he will have a ‘light’ of respect ․ and in the next stage he will feel no fear of the other animals or beings, but feel pity ‒ his own care and care, which is a ‘light.’ [Footnote