The poem “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1911 is a narrative monologue (Bishop, 2014). The use of imagery in this poem is strong as it is reflected visually, auditory, and sensory. Bishop also uses strong descriptive and figurative language to bring the reader into the poem with simile, irony, and symbols. She utilizes an open form structure, also known as the free verse due to there in no specific length to the line structure. The narrative monologue use of imagery, figurative language, and an open form brings this poem to life for the reader. This poem is written as a narrative monologue with the assumption that the writer is also the narrator. There is only the conclusion that a woman is telling the story since the phrase “my” hook from the narrator (Bishop, 1946, p. 968). There is an interesting relationship created by Bishop when she writes “my” hook in “his” mouth, which indicates that the fish is a male (Bishop, 1946, p. 968). The narrative tells a story by presenting event in some logical orderly way (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The narrator brings in the imagery of the poem in the writing. Bishop uses imagery in this poem, as it is reflected visually, auditory, and sensory. The imagery in this poem has a robust visual presents. While listening to the poem, close your eyes and see the woman holding the fishing pool and having the fish half in and half out of the water. The wording selected in the poem is filled with words and phrases that describe the senses, create an atmosphere, and sets a mood that are utilized by the fisher and the fish (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The element of imagery is also produced when this poem is read aloud and more of the imagination is brought out... ... middle of paper ... ...poem. This poem could have multiple meaning behind it, but it is apparent that she was not happy about the way the animal was treated by previous fisherman or woman. Reference Bishop, E. (1946). "The Fish." Compact literature: Reading, reacting, writing. (pp. 968-970). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Elizabeth Bishop. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 02:31, Apr 21, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-bishop-9213441. Kirszner, L. G., & Mandell, S. R. (2012). Compact literature: Reading, reacting, writing. (8 ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Snodgrass, M. E. (2013). American Poets of the 20th Century: The Poets: Elizabeth Bishop (1911 - 1979). CliffsNotes.com. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/american-poets-of-the-20th-century/the-poets/elizabeth-bishop-19111979
...ion of the situation to the Ancient Mariner. Moreover, the way in which the dialogue is presented, makes the structure seems more of a script of a play. The structure of the poem is a key characteristic in displaying the theme, for by telling the story as a personal experience, it helps the reader understand the moral and theme intended as a warning to people.
Wallace, Daniel. Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012. N. pag. Print.
Easterlin, Nancy. “Hans Christian Andersen’s Fish out of Water." Philosophy and Literature 25 (2001): 251-77. 6 Oct. 2006.
Throughout the first half of the poem, Bishop describes the fish as an inanimate object, as reflected in her comparisons, which uses objects to describe the fish as shown when she says, “Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper…”. (9-11) She chooses a wallpaper to describe the skin of the fish in order to accurately portray its battered and worn state; her decision to compare the fish to an inorganic ...
In The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister tells how a beautiful, extraordinary, yet, self-centered blue fish learns that being beautiful isn’t the key to happiness. The blue fish came to find this lesson when he lost his friends. Pfister takes a simple ocean setting and explores the consequences of an individual’s arrogance toward their peers, the process of humbling of oneself, and the tremendous reward one feels when they learn to share. The story achieves these morals by the author’s use of detailed imager and also, the influence of minor characters on the antihero in order to reveal to the audience the true thematic message; selfish actions bring true happiness.
Two poems, “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop and “The Meadow Mouse” by Theodore Roethke, include characters who experience, learn, and emote with nature. In Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish,” a fisherman catches a fish, likely with the intention to kill it, but frees it when he sees the world through the eyes of the fish. In Theodore Roethke’s poem “The Meadow Mouse,” a man finds a meadow mouse with the intention of keeping it and shielding it from nature, but it escapes into the wild. These poems, set in different scenarios, highlight two scenarios where men and women interact with nature and experience it in their own ways.
“The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop is an excellent poem that goes beyond its straightforward subject. She vividly describes the act of catching a fish while also utilizing the thematic elements of figurative language, imagery and tone to bring many more ideas into the picture. Overall “The Fish” is a poem that champions the beauty of nature while also putting forth a negative connotation on all things artificial through a simple topic.
The poet seems to share the same pain with the fish, observing the scene and enjoying the detail just like enjoying an artwork. The poet lets the fish go because she is totally touched by the process between life and death; she loves life but, meanwhile, is deeply hurt by the life. In the poem, the fish has no fear towards her; the desire to live is in the moving and tragic details when she faces the death.
In Julia Alvarez’s poem “On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries”, Alvarez skillfully employs poetic devices such as imagery and personification to let the reader view the power of literature through the eyes of a young, poverty stricken, estranged woman, inspiring her love for poetry. Alvarez’s use of imagery paints a vivid picture of the setting and the narrator’s actions for the reader throughout her significant experience; all through the eyes of an alienated female. The use of personification and author’s tone brings “The Blue Estuaries” to life for the reader-just as it had appeared to the narrator.
In this poem, the author tells of a lost love. In order to convey his overwhelming feelings, Heaney tries to describe his emotions through something familiar to everyone. He uses the sea as a metaphor for love, and is able to carry this metaphor throughout the poem. The metaphor is constructed of both obvious and connotative diction, which connect the sea and the emotions of love.
The speaker from the first stanza is the observer, someone who pays closer attention to the entire piece of work, noticing all the details and able to understand the painting as a fluid story and not a snapshot. He is a man with fishing experience. He knows violent the seas and the power nature holds, strong and unforgiving to any individual. The second speaker in the poem is the observer, his voice is heard in the second stanza. He describes the individual looking at the painting as an innocent bystander embracing the art in a museum. The man views the painting, not fully immersing oneself in the complete story of the painting. Instead, he just looks on as a spectator, not fully appreciating the intensity of what he is looking at. Breaking the poem into two stanzas not only allows Finkel to voice two speakers, but also allows him to alternate the tone. The tone of the first stanza with the observer is dark, the speaker describes the events in the painting with a terror, making the painting more realistic with hints of personal experiences. The second stanza is divided into two parts: the first is calm, the onlooker is innocent, gazing at the still image on the canvas, describing the painting at face-value. The latter half of the stanza brings the painting to life. Similar to the first stanza, it transitions back into darkness, a contrast of what the observer views on the
The title of the poem itself dictates the simplicity Bishop wishes to convey regarding the narrator's view of his catch. A fish is a creature that has preceded the creation of man on this planet. Therefore, Bishop supplies the reader with a subject that is essentially constant and eternal, like life itself. In further examination of this idea the narrator is, in relation to the fish, very young, which helps introduce the theme of deceptive appearances in conjunction with age by building off the notion that youth is ignorant and quick to judge.
Kirszner, L. G., & Mandell, S. R. (2012). Compact literature: Reading, reacting, writing. (8 ed.).
The narrator speaks about the fish in terms of commercial, where every part of the fish can be sale for different purposes, but as the speaker look in the fish eyes, starts to compare the human life through the existence of the fish. What the speaker found beautiful about the fish is that as the speaker looks into the fish eyes and start looking in a different way to the creature, she starts to identify a living creature instead of a creature that will die imminently. The speaker starts seeing the beauty of the fish when she start to compare the fish to a soldier, when she sees through the eyes of the fish the victories over death that this creature has won, and I believe that the speaker compares her own battles and victories to the one of this creature in order to survive. I believe that the “ personality” of the fish is humble, brave and that this fish have been battling for a long time for his life, that he has been involved in some sort of violence many times in order to exist. I also feel that this fish is tired of fighting and that he is venerable to the speaker
Dr. Seuss’ works were written for children but he often hid political issues within them. He wrote the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish in 1960 which was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. In the first stanza of the story, one of the two narrators, Ned describes the many different fish he sees all around him. He describes how the fish around him vary in m...