In the poem The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop, the author expresses a tone of sympathy for the fish after realizing that the fish had been caught many times before her. The author uses figurative language and Imagery to show how the fish really affected her choice to release it in the end. I think that the theme for this poem is that pride can help you make the right choices in life and help you become a better person.
One poetic device used by the author was figurative language, more specifically, similes. The author uses similes through the poem as a way to describe the fish that she has caught. An example of this would be when she said, “Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper, and its pattern of darker brown was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age”, “Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from its aching jaw”. The author is describing how the fish is probably very old and has been swimming for a long time and has been caught at least five times beforehand. This kind of makes her feel sympathetic towards the fish after seeing in how bad of a shape he is in.
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The author is very descriptive when talking about the fish and really tries to help the readers understand what kind of a life the fish has had. She states in her poem that “he was speckled and barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, and infested with tiny white sea-lice”. This tells us that the fish was likely in a lot of pain because sea lice tend to sting. The author also states, “while his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen—the frightening gills, fresh and crisp with blood,” which means the water in which the fish was living in was likely very dirty and contaminated. This shows how the author felt some empathy/sympathy for the fish at the end of the poem after seeing all the pain it is
With the wife also displaying similar brown lines on her body, the comparison between the fish and the wife is shown with a sense of similar feelings of distress in their current situations. The narrator is able to feel sympathy towards the female fish because she can sense her fear of being cornered and a need to hide herself from the male. Just like the female fish, the narrator is going through a similar situation with her husband, in that the narrator felt belittled by her husband and a need to hide herself from him when he would be in one of his moods. For example, the birth of their daughter, they had different views on childbirth. The wife wanted to do a water birth because she heard it was a better for the baby, but she didn't argue for it because she
Social conflict among African Americans and white society are extremely present in this poem. For example, the relationship between the women and the fishmonger and the relationship between the fishmonger and the “ three-dollar-an-hour, head-off-and -split-boys” shows the oppression of African Americans. For the relationship between the fishmonger and the women he belittles her and tries to put her down and persuade her to let him “Head Off & Split” the fish. The poem backs up this by saying that “ He laughed out loud, warning her about the painstaking work the toothy boy fish will require. With his hairy hands around his own neck, he imitates choking on an overlooked bone.
As the father and son journey toward the coast, they encounter numerous challenges and dangers, but they also find moments of beauty and wonder amid the desolation. One such moment occurs when the father reflects on the past, lamenting the loss of the world as it once was: "Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow" (McCarthy 286). The brook trout described in the passage symbolizes the beauty and wonder of a world that has been irreversibly altered. The brook trout, with its "vermiculate patterns" and "maps and mazes," can be seen as a metaphor for the characters' journeys of self-discovery and resistance.
Similes in the poem such as ‘till he was like to drop’ are used to create a more descriptive image in the reader’s mind. Metaphors when saying ‘He lifted up his hairy paw’ and in many other sections of the poem to exaggerate areas to give the reader a more interesting view. So the poet can express what he is trying to prove through and entertaining way. The imagery device enhances the poem to make it stand out more so it grabs the reader attention. The poem was a very entertaining and humorous.
Amy Tan uses imagery in the short story “Fish Cheeks” in order to let the reader feel the way Amy felt at the table on Christmas Eve. For example, in the story it states, “ My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.” This explains that Amy felt embarrassed that her family wasn’t realizing the fact that they had no manners at the table. Amy was completely embarrassed with the fact that, that was the way her family had acted while they ate. Everyone is put into a situation where they wished their parents or family members had not acted the way they did in front of them, and Amy Tan writing this story makes you remember those times.
The narrator immediately incorporates symbolism insinuating the emphasis on struggle in the first stanza. Symbolizing adversity, she tells the reader “I think by now the river must be thick with salmon. Late August,
Concrete Details/Imagery Gallien starts to notice the settings around him while he is on his way to drop Alex off. “For the first few miles the stampede trail was well graded and led past cabins scattered among weedy stands of spruce and aspen. Beyond the last of the log shacks, however, the road rapidly deteriorated” (Kraukaur 2). This quote creates of visual of the quick change from rural civilization to deep and dense forest.
Also, the fish represent the obstacles that one may face while trying to reach their goal and shaping their ability to achieve it. This ultimately challenges them to decide whether to accept the task and grow or abandon their dreams by giving up. The girl’s the environment around her influenced her hard work ethic and her decision to have patience to accomplish her
Reynolds uses this story to share a personal anecdote, telling how the fish could be seen “...flipping and flopping and flapping, inflating, deflating, dying, only to be met by mortified and confused faces.” By using this alliteration, Reynolds is trying to evoke empathy from the graduates, wanting them to feel the sadness represented through his words. He uses alliteration to help his audience understand how the fish was moving, with the audience being able to imagine what it was like in that moment and how terrifying it was. By using alliteration, Reynolds demonstrates his overall message to the graduates how through the course of life, it is often easy for individuals to only think about themselves, not taking a look at others around them. Through taking a look at other’s situations and checking in on them, humans can learn to help those who are less fortunate.
The description of the fish flopping on the ground as it is breathless on the ground, shows the symbol of the story, and the purpose of the story. Get in trouble to save the fish, or not get in trouble and not save the fish. Overall, the use of rhetorical devices helps the audience understand Reynolds way of speaking, and clarifies the topic of empowerment and
“They were already dying. The change from salt to fresh water had turned their flesh rotten. Long strips of it hung off their bodies, waving in the current”(75). This quotation intrigued me by the use of the fish as a symbolic meaning. It
Another example of a simile found throughout the poem based off the freshman’s short story can be found from line ten to twelve. The comparison of a tuna caught in a net and a tuna playfully swimming among the sea accurately represents the close appearance but long distance in reality among two separate tunas. These similes relate to the relationship of John and Mary because one may believe that John and Mary are in fact close, but in reality they are just two human beings on earth occupying their own space with no hope of ever
The young fish mentioned represent that the “most profound realities of life are the most difficult to see or talk about” (Fairhurst, 2001, p.xiii) demonstrating Wallace’s point that we must be continuously active in important aspects of life. At first glimpse this analogy seems to loosen the tension and start the speech on good terms but once coming back to this idea it is frightening that this is “a great and terrible truth”(Wallace 2007). Connecting back to the idea of being attentive if wanting a fulfilled life, this analogy goes perfectly as those who remain in the “default” (Wallace 2005) setting do not need to understand the message behind the analogy and can only see the human, but those who want to go forward will look closer at the function of the words and understand the
To begin, the poet uses metaphors to help exhibit the characteristics one needs to have to achieve. She shows this when she compares humans to seals: "The people I love the best / jump into work head first / the black sleek heads of seals / bouncing
The first poem I studied by Elizabeth Bishop was "The Fish". It is apparent from the very first line that this poem by Bishop was written for an audience and that the poet knew, in a way that was carefully judged, which language would be most effective. Written in the language of the narrative and first person, "I caught a tremendous fish", the poet immediately uses carefully judged language to tell us a tale. Throughout the poem, the poet uses extremely descriptive imagery "fresh and crisp with blood" to describe the fish that seemed to be completely limp and old.