 The poem “The Fish” was written by Elizabeth Bishop. This poem is a very descriptive poem. It involves a person, a fish, and a boat. Throughout the poem the main character gives us vivid imagery of an encounter the character had with this fish.  The poem provides the audience with a situation in which a person comes in contact with an awkward fish. This fish is no ordinary one; it is described as having a unique pattern of colors and shape. The character begins to see the fish differently as the poem goes on. In the end, the character gains respect for this fish that he caught and eventually let go. The author uses descriptions of the appearance and the actions of the fish to show how the fish became respected.

In the poem the author uses colors and patterns to describe this fish. In the beginning of the poem the author describes the fish as “Homely” Bishop 9 and how the fish’s skin reminds the author of “ancient wallpaper” Bishop 11. These descriptions are not flattering. This clearly shows that the author thinks the fish is not worthy of appreciation. The author then goes on to visualize about how the fish looks on the inside. The author is thinking of the fish as a source of food but not an animal worthy of his respect. The author is talking about “the course white flesh” Bishop 27 which implies that the author would not mind taking a bite out of this fish. This shows how the author doesn’t have much respect for the fish. Conversely if the author had more respect for the fish then he would not be describing it as a possible meal but focusing more on its outer beauty and how attractive it is to him. 

As the poem goes on the author suddenly see’s something different about the fish that he hadn’t seen before. The author “looks into the fish’s eyes” Bishop 34 and stares which makes the audience think that he is looking into a human’s eyes. The author looking into the fish’s eyes is abnormal, but to look into a fish’s eyes and see something that no one else can see is showing that the author is starting to feel some type of connection that he didn’t see when he first caught the fish. This led to the author no longer seeing the fish as a meal, but seeing it as being a living thing and that it was more of an equal to himself. It allowed the author to appreciate the fish for what it was a living, breathing creature. The author is obviously attracted and catches a new feeling about the fish which he can’t help but to stare into the fish’s eyes. This clearly shows that he went from thinking of the fish as a source of food to an animal worthy of respect and appreciates its beauty.

In the beginning of the poem the audience finds it strange that the fish does not fight back after being caught. This fish showed some kind of quiet strength. There were 5 different fishing lines that hung from the fish’s mouth. This showed how strong the fish was to be able to escape death each time. This is how respect ultimately grew upon the author. In the author’s eyes those fishing lines hanging from the fish’s mouth were like gold Olympic medals of Honor and strength. This showed how the fish was a determined survivor. Also the fishing lines show that on numerous occasions this beast couldn’t be caught and it showed determination, strength and, will. This is what made the author extremely happy when he said “victory filled the little rented boat” Bishop 68 because the author felt as if he had accomplished something that 5 other people couldn’t accomplish. This was the highlight of his day which led him to throw the fish back as a sign of respect. The fish had escaped death five times before that moment so out of respect the author gave the fish one more chance at life.

In conclusion, the fish made a transition from being ugly to beautiful in the authors eyes. The authors used a lot of imagery in describing the fish throughout the poem. The energy we feel from the author describing the fish as an ordinary thing is far different from the more appreciative tone the author uses to describe the fish at the end of the poem. This changed the audience’s point of view, because it showed that an animal that may seem as insignificant as a fish could possess the same qualities and strength as any other living creature.  The way the author describe the fish at first showed signs of disgust and that this fish wasn’t worthy of being respected. However, as the poem went along the author began to notice different things about the fish. The fish went from being an item on dinner that night to being well respected. The author uses descriptions of the appearance and the actions of the fish to show how the fish became respected in the end. All in all though something may seem worthless there is always some kind value to it whether it is visible or whether u may have to dig a little deeper to figure it out.
