The Fish

Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish” begins with a straightforward declarative statement; the poem’s speaker informs us that they caught a fish “and held him beside the boat / half out of water, with my hook / fast in a corner of his mouth” (Lines 2-4). The fish is said to be “tremendous,” and the reader gets the sense of its large size when told that held beside the boat it is still half submerged. “Tremendous” also suggests a more intangible quality, however, such as wonderful or impressive. However despite its large size, the fish is surprisingly passive and “didn’t fight” (Line 5), which seems remarkable to the speaker, particularly since they repeat this observation for emphasis saying, “He hadn’t fought at all” (Line 6). This lack of fight surprises the speaker and may even taint the catch with having been too easy. Ironically, some of the language Bishop uses to describe the caught fish who “hung a grunting weight” (Line 7) conjures the image of a war veteran, “battered and venerable” (Line 8), and weakened by age. This shabby image of the “homely” (Line 9) fish also recalls an old, dilapidated house with his “brown skin hung in strips / like ancient wallpaper” (Lines 10-11) covered in fading rosette-shaped barnacles, and draped with “rags of green weed” (Line 21) that recalls the growth of untended ivy.