Elisabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish” Essay

Elizabeth Bishops poem The Fish narrates the changing attitude of the speaker to contendds the fish. First, the fish is set forth as ancient and grizzled, showing signs of death and decay. However, upon closer inspection, the fish is do out to be a survivor of many battles. with the social function of figurative language, the poet shows the speakers shift from noting lone(prenominal) the fishs dejection to admiring him for his one-time(prenominal) glories.Bishop begins with the avatar of the fish into a externalize of pound and age. The speaker mentions that the fish had not fought at all, as though he had given up all hope. She compares the fishs skin to darkened wallpaper which would not be securely attached to the wall as skin loses firmness with age. In addition, Bishop details the extent of the fishs injuries, everything from lice and barnacles to the fresh blood of his wounds. Such imagery invokes feelings of decay and abandonment as parasites are allowed to slowly co nsume him. The speaker also contemplates the fishs innards, suggesting that his has become a mass of flesh and bone without genius.The speaker furthers the personification of the fish by looking into his eyes and remarking that he had not looked hind end fully. Instead, the fish had only shifted his stare a little towards the light, further suggesting pretermit of will while giving the fish a very homo feeling of dejection. Not caring about the face of his conqueror, the fish only seeks to confront death, represented by the light that he turns towards. The focus on the fishs physical structure bear ons the fishs lack of spirit yet it is this very lifelessness that gives the fish the human emotions of immobility and hopelessness. Through the personification of the fish, the poet shows the speakers projection of lack of spirit and hope onto the fish.In contrast, the speakers discovery of past meat hooks imbedded into the fishs mouth gives him the persona of a fallen war hero w ho has survived many battles in the past. The speakers intuition thence changes from one of lifelessness to one of courage and animation, denoted by the admiration in the speakers tone. Upon seeing the frayed lines, she uses verbs of action and struggle as she imagines the fish fighting and breaking the line. Thus,the poets comparison of the lines to ribbons furthers the fishs appearance as a hero retaining the medals of his victory. The further comparison of the disembowel to a beard of wisdom shows the speakers admiration of the fishs accumulation of experience through time.The author then explains that he boat become filled with victory in the appearance of a rainbow. A rainbow domiciliate be associated with triumph and survival, as the viewer can enjoy the calmness after a storm, often a conniption of chaos and potential violence especially combined with the boat setting. Through viewing the remains of the past struggles that the fish has faced, the speakers perception of th e fish changes him from a being in decline to the survival of past battles.In The Fish, Bishop transforms an old fish the speaker caught into a glorious figure of reverence. Bishop uses personification and analogies to set up the fish as dejected and wanting in spirit. However, the speakers perception changes and tone is markedly much of admiration while symbolism is added as the remains of the fishs struggle become the trophies of victory. By employing personification and symbolism, Bishop uses figurative language to denote the speakers changing understanding of the fish.