LITR 5535: American
Romanticism
Student
Student Poetry Presentation, fall 2000
Reader: Stacey Burleson
Respondent: Shelly Childers
"The Fish"
by
Elizabeth Bishop
Norton Anthology of American Literature, 5th Shorter Ed., p. 2612
In Elizabeth Bishop's The Fish there is a deep formation formed by a kind of meditative discipline underlying the poem. The poem shows sympathy towards the subject. She looks steadily at her subject, not from an analytical point of view, but with so much affection that there seems to be an interchange between the poet and the fish. There becomes a commingling of love and awe over the sheer otherness of the things of the earth. There is a remarkable amount of empathy in the poem. At the end of the poem when the fish is let go, is there a sense of loss? If not what is romantic about the poem? (Stacey)
There exists an amount of passive resistance. The fish did not fight. He accepted his fate. (Amana)
There are environmental issues dealing with conservation with the fish's capture. (She She)
The fish is wise. He has wire hanging from his mouth showing the many times he has managed to escape. He does not fight because there is no way for an individual to keep him. (Other)
It would be poetic to catch the fish if he fought. (Amana)
The romantic elements of desire and loss becomes pursuit and capture. (Dr. White)
Poetry can be looked at in many ways. (Shelly) The poem The Fish becomes more interesting each time it is read. The meaning is changed in various way upon further reading. (Dr. White)
There is a comical element in the poem by Bishop being by herself in a little boat with a big fish. The fish takes on the sublime and gothic elements with the "terrible oxygen" "cutting gills" and the insides of the fish. It takes on underworld qualities. (Dr. White)
There is a continued use of passive resistance when the fish refuses to meet the narrator's eyes. (Amana)
The poem takes on romantic qualities by suspending the reality of the moment. The reader gets caught up in the poem and forgets what an actual fishing trip is like. The fish not fighting becomes believeable, when on an actual fishing trip the fish will fight to keep from being captured. (Stacey)