The Fish Summary and Analysis

Critical Analysis of “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop
By Rebecca Davis
“The Fish” written by Elizabeth Bishop is about a girl on a fishing boat who reels in a big catch.
The first six lines of this poem are straight forward as she explains how she easily caught this
large fish who didn’t seem to fight being caught. ”with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight. He hadn’t fought at all.” She stares at the fish while she holds it just outside the
boat and begins to notice the unfortunate condition the fish is in. She notes that he looks
homely and battered and that his skin hangs and peels like “ancient wallpaper”. For the next
fifteen lines Bishop goes on to explain the poor condition of the fish. From his yellowed eyes to
his sea lice and barnacle infested body. The speaker begins making frequent “I” statements,
reiterating to the reader that this is a personal experience. It almost feels like you are reading a
personal diary entry. “I looked into his eyes which were far larger than mine(..) they shifted a
little, but not to return my stare” The speaker begins to compare herself to the fish, in lines 33-
34, when she notices that his eyes are bigger than hers. She adds that there is a shine to his
eyes like “tarnished tinfoil”. She looks deep into his eyes, watching as they move and waits for
the fish to look back at her. The eye contact that she is waiting for is a human characteristic and
the fact that she’s waiting for a fish to look back at her shows her sympathy towards the fish.
She even begins to feel admiration when she looks at his “sullen face”. Describing his face as
“sullen” is again comparing him to a human. It’s at this moment when she sees something
shocking. “then I saw that from his lower lip -- if you could call it a lip grim, wet, and
weaponlike, hung five old pieces of fish-line, or four and a wire leader with the swivel still
attached, with all their five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth.” We see that the fish as been
in this state for a long time because the hooks are now grown “firmly” in his mouth. The poem
slows down in the following lines as the speaker describes what the fishing lines look like. She
describes his battle wounds as “a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw”. As
you read this part of the poem its hard not to become entranced with this fish and the life it has
lived. The speaker sees the strings as “medals” and this once homely, battered fish is now
perceived as a strong warrior who has fought to survive. “I stared and stared and victory filled
up the little rented boat”. The victory she is feeling in this moment is that satisfaction of
catching the hefty fish which is not always an easy feet. While looking at her prize she falls into
a deep thought. The poem slows down again here as she notes the spilled oil creating a rainbow
on the water. The single rainbow signifies joy which fills the space that she is currently in, from
“the rusted engine to the bailer rusted orange”. The repeated use of “rust” here could be
referring to the deteriorative state of this fish. If you recall in the beginning of the poem she
says that the fish didn’t fight to get away and that he “hung a grunting weight” or dead weight
when she reeled him in. Obviously this fish has been fighting for survival his whole life and he
has the “strings of medals” to prove it. Why now has he given up? These are the thoughts
running through the speakers mind and its in this moment that she has a revelation. She knows
in her heart that the fish shouldn’t have to fight for survival anymore. “until everything was
rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go.” The joy she first felt for catching the fish is
now three times as big when she decides to put it back in the water. Her victory is something
completely different know and she’s even more satisfied. I think the point of this poem is to
make you think about more then just yourself and your immediate needs. Being sympathetic
towards people or even animals is a good quality and doing a selfless good deed can bring you
more joy than doing something for yourself.

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Critical Analysis of “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop

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