"The Fish" response paper

Finn McNally
The Fish Response Paper
In the Poem The Fish, by Elizabeth Bishop, the characters do not behave in believable ways. The Fish does not put up any fight even though it is evident that it has before and is capable of breaking lines and getting away. The fisherman also does not behave in a completely believable way because a fish like that should be kept and should be more of a trophy. It is clear that this fish has evaded many other fishermen and it would seem like a great feat to catch this fish. In analyzing this poem I think I saw how the author has a great deal of respect for the fish and the ways of nature. She uses terms that someone not familiar with fishing would probably not know. For her to know these things means that she does fish and she knows what it’s like to catch fish and maybe she has been in that situation before. For that reason I think that this poem is sincere and has real meaning to it.
The tone of this poem goes from being very proud, then sullen, then finally to humble when she lets the fish go. The single line that represents the overall spirit of the poem would have to be the final lines 74 to 76 “- until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go.” It is these lines that you can see the respect that the author has gained for this fish be examining it throughout the poem. There is a shift in tone in line 65, “I stared and stared and victory filled up the boat.” The act of catching the fish can’t be the victory because the author already did that so it must be something else. I think the victory means something else, possibly a victory for the fish for being let go. At the end of the poem I think the world is more orderly because the fish is let go and back in the water and the author is on the boat where she started. There is no conflict with keeping and killing the fish and no problems with the author losing the fish because she threw it back on purpose.
This poem is ironic for one reason because the fish does not fight. It has given up even after fighting so many times before. Another example of irony in this poem is the fact that the author released the fish at the end and still claimed it to be victory. I think the author claimed it to be a victory because it was both a victory for the fish as well as the author because the fish got let go and the author was able to do that.
I enjoyed this poem because of the descriptiveness of it. Bishop paints a picture in my head with every line in this poem. I enjoyed the similes and the descriptive imagery. The author was able to turn a regular fish into an almost majestic creature just be describing it in detail throughout the poem without ever telling how the author actually felt. I wonder why the author decided to let the fish go. I think it was because the author learned to admire the fish and almost pity it for giving up the fight after it had so many times before.