The Fish Figurative Language
Poems have a way of drawing an audience to several interpretations. This is clear in Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish” as the speaker has second thoughts of capturing a fish to eat after realizing the severities it went through. This poem does a great job of using several techniques to get its point across on the central theme, which is interpreted as the ongoing struggle of humans versus nature. The author uses several literary approaches to convey its message. By utilizing diction, figurative language and imagery, the power of man over the environment is easily developed.
The first line of the vivid poem opens with a blunt statement made by the speaker where it uses imagery to describe the setting and subject of the poem (1). From …show more content…
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
The first line of the vivid poem opens with a blunt statement made by the speaker where it uses imagery to describe the setting and subject of the poem (1). From …show more content…
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