Although the title of this poem, (love song, with two goldfish), suggests the predictable romantic love story, the context of the poem is about how the relationship between the two goldfish ends because the male goldfish could not satisfy the female goldfish’s hunger for freedom. The increasing effect of the stanzas, which comprises the use of irony and imagery, serves to bring out the central theme of imprisonment. The quote “has nowhere else to go” shows how the two goldfish are captive within the bowl and how this is all they have known.
The author uses the parentheses to represent the bowl the goldfish are imprisoned by. The use of these parentheses is used to enhance the theme of the entrapment and the lack of freedom. Since the fish are unable to escape the bowl in search possible of “a life beyond the (bowl)” the brackets symbolise the fish bowl, which the fish are imprisoned by. Every stanza in this poem is enclosed in parenthesis to further increase the effect of the symbolism and allows the theme to be more evident.
The structure of this poem also slightly adds to the sum of the poem. Since this poem does not have any regular rhyme scheme, “always, has, wishes, scales, notice...eye” (1-6), “walls, eyes, darts, swallows, sinker”(7-11), etc. Where the only rhymes in the poem appears in line 12-15, “would” and “could”, “there” and “share” and (19-20)”sinks” and “drinks”. The poem also does not have a regular rhythm. This allows the poem to appear as very dull and naturalistic, at the same time it suggests the movement of the fish, travelling in the bowl with no apparent pattern. Furthermore, the use of constant enjambment, as well as caesura, “(But her love’s since/ gone belly-up. His heart sinks/ like a fish….)” (18), enhances the overall tone of nervousness and tension within the poem.
writen by George Gordon 2011
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The story portrays a story of a fisherman who has the rare opportunity to meet an amazing creature. This is why he describes the fish as “venerable”, “homely”, and “battered”. He also stated that the fish did not fight at all; which does not become significant until near to the end of the poem when he realizes that this “tremendous” fish has finally submitted itself and given up.…
- 476 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Structurally, this poem has both the assonance and alliteration of a lyric poem. For example, “Watercress grows here and there…. Gentle maiden, pure and fair”, and the fishhawk’s song, guan guan. The subject of the poem is passionate love that has not/or cannot be obtained. There is a longing for this love that keeps him up at night. Love’s suffering…
- 1089 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
| April 6: Reading Poetry pp. 743-750 a. Read Robert Frances, “Catch” pp. 750-751 b. A Sample Student Analysis pp. 751-754. c. Read Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish” pp. 755-756.BCR: Which lines in this poem provide especially vivid details of the fish? What makes these descriptions effective?Homework: Poetry in Popular Forms pp. 774-777. a. Read S. Pearl Sharp, “It’s the…
- 1853 Words
- 8 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Figurative imagery was also used throughout the poem. The author uses them to express what the person is feeling or thinking. When he says, “her brain turns to water,” he is stating that she is not thinking about the real world because she is too busy concentrating on love. “The waitress floats towards you,” this explains how the speaker is in a crowded restaurant therefore the place is busy and the odds of her coming to take his order is very low, which makes her extraordinary and it seems like she is a angel floating. “His voice is a small boy turning somersaults in the green country of his blood,” which states that the old mans’ singing is calming and transports you to a joyful place, which helps forget the fact that it is just an old man on the bus.…
- 565 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
This is where imagery plays a great role in this poem, because it helps the reader make a visual representation of what is happening in the poem. For example, “he has the casual cold look of a mugger”, this is meant…
- 356 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Moreover, the utilisation of metaphors has enhanced the poet’s idea of endless parental love. For instance, the quote “… now you are suspended between earth and sky” (Stanza 1) declares the true love the persona has for his daughter. By…
- 1094 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The poem is arranged in quatrains with alternating rhyming couplets (ABAB). This creates a childlike quality to the poem like a nursery rhyme which compliments how it is written through the eyes of an infant. This reflects how everything is new to the baby and it watches and learns from everything around it. The four quatrains each describe a new animal that comes near the wagtail. The way each is different and they come one after another shows how it is happening in that moment.…
- 912 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The words used in this poem are quite effective. Example "hang them by there heads on hooks or fill a long intestine." Also the language used does very well to portray the person's emotions and feelings. Enjantment is used to create a conversational tone. "We would watch then, on the blue metal." This is effective because it gets the reader more involved; because the reader thinks that he is rely there having a conversation with the man.…
- 409 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In lines 22-23, the speaker gives a detailed view of how the fish is in a near death experience and is fighting for its life. A small use of figurative language is used to describe the view of the fish’s gills as frightening (24). This proves how scared the fish was getting as it was almost down to its last breath. The gills are revealed as “fresh and crisp with blood” to continue to reiterate that death is on the way through imagery (25-26). This shows how man’s power can either be used for the better or the worse in the world. At this point, readers can see how the environment depends on the actions of human beings. The speaker then starts to think about the interior of the fish; they speak about its “white flesh”, “bones”, “black and red entrails” and “pink swim-bladder”. As the speaker looks into the fish’s eyes (34-35), the speaker makes note of how “shallow” and “yellow” its orbital area looks. In lines 37-40, the description of the eyes is continued. At this moment, there is a showdown between the narrator and the fish. Their eyes do not leave each other and the speaker starts to reconsider its actions. It is safe to infer that the fish’s eyes read desperation as it was facing death and was in need of a miracle. Once again, this establishes how much a person can influence the world through positive or negative actions. Bishop describes how sad the fish looked (45) and later emphasized on how intense it…
- 1191 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
As I was reading the poem, I decided to focus on the first half of the poem for my melody. Picturing a Blue Heron walking through the cold ponds in November with his gray hunched shoulders made me think of the tempo and the dynamics for this piece. Right from the start, I knew that this melody could not be fast, allegro, or even…
- 825 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In my opinion this poem talks about the story of a fish being caught as a way to describe to us how the older we are the more experienced we get about life and how to confront certain situations. As I mentioned before, when we see someone that is older with their gray hair, wrinkled face we assume they have more experience and tend to go to them for advice or even information about certain places or events that occurred before in the past and that they had the opportunity to live them. This fish because he obviously had been in this situation before decided to not fight back, probably had it been a young fish it would been pulling and trying to get away making the fisherman to want to fight back and ultimately get him out of the water. But because he was experienced in this type of situation he used it to his advantage which…
- 629 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
When Doty starts the poem’s investigative process, “a terrific kind of exhilaration me (Doty)” takes place. The sentences in the poem, “distinguished from the other –nothing about them of individuality”, made the movement of his writing clear. Beginning with This moment of exhilaration is the catalyst that quickly led him to write two sentences: “one that considers the fish as replications of the ideal, Platonic Mackerel, and one that likewise imagines them as the intricate creations of an obsessively repetitive jeweler”. The pace picked up at this point, and after the idea had grown, Doty could let the poem write for itself. It seems as if the ideas in the poem fell onto paper before Doty even thought about them. Surprisingly, his writing presented ideas that amazed him too.…
- 537 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The poem is highly metaphorical and symbolic. The story, on the surface, really is about swimming in the ocean alone. However, as we readers examine further, it’s quite obvious that there are meanings behind this superficial image. As a matter of fact, the ocean is a metaphor of greatness and mystery. We can also perceive it to be a symbol of life as we all “swim” in this ocean and are truly uncertain about what will happen next. The image of seaweed shadows is apparent in the first stanza, and they can apparently be seen as obstacles that we encounter in the journeys of our lives. In the third paragraph, the poet addressed that in the end, it is only a “drifting body” or a “dolphin”. This seems paradoxical because drifting body is a symbol of death and mortality, whereas, in sharp contrast, dolphins are universally viewed as creatures that are nimble and lively. The use of two completely polar things implies the uncertainty of life and supports the idea that life is fundamentally fearsome.…
- 606 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
This poem has no set pattern that is constant throughout. It has eleven sections in which are broken down into quatrains. Some verses are very different from others adding a trace of a story. Therefore, the verses do not follow the same rhyming scheme, making the poems emotion serious and mature. The lack of verse form also adds to these emotions.…
- 375 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
I enjoyed 'The Fish' for its unusual imagery, detailed description and uplifting epiphany. We are drawn into the poem by the opening lines 'I caught a tremendous fish' The poets respect for the fish is immediately conveyed, he is 'battered and venerable and homely'. A domestic simile helps us to visualise this huge, ancient fish, while evoking a sense of comfortable familiarity 'his brown skin hung in strips, like ancient wallpaper' Imaginative similes conjure up an image of the inside of the fish, his flesh is 'packed in like feathers', while his swim bladder is 'like a big poeny'. An interesting shift in the poem occurs when the poet looks into the fish's eyes and begins to engage with him. Observation leads to reflection. The poet empathises with the fish when she observes the five hooks that had 'grown firmly in his mouth'. Like the poet, I admire the fish for surviving the trials of tribulations of life. It is at this point that the poet achieves a moment of insight. The hooks are 'like medals with their ribbons, frayed and wavering', suggests that the poet now sees the fish as a war veteran. This is a wonderful comparison. The ancient fish is now a symbol for the resilience of the human spirit and for our capacity…
- 925 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays