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 speaker gives us vivid imagery of an encounter the speaker had with this fish.  The poem provides the audience with a situation in which the speaker comes in contact with an old fish. This fish is no ordinary one; it is described as having a unique pattern of colors and shape. The speaker begins to see the fish differently as the poem goes on. In the end, the speaker gains respect for this fish that he caught and eventually let go. Bishop uses descriptions of the appearance and actions of the fish to show how it is respected.

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

As the poem goes on the speaker suddenly sees something different about the fish that he hadn’t seen before. The speaker “looks into the fish’s eyes” (line 34) and stares which makes the audience think that he is looking into a human’s eyes. The speaker 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 shows that the speaker is starting to feel some type of connection that he didn’t have when he first caught the fish. This led to the speaker no longer seeing the fish as a meal, but him seeing it as being a living thing. He would begin to see it as more of an equal to himself. That allowed the speaker to appreciate the fish for what it is: a living, breathing creature. The speaker develops a respect for the fish and feels differently about the fish which he can’t help, which causes him to stare into the fish’s eyes. This clearly shows that the speaker developed a new opinion about the fish and that all fish have a story behind them

In the beginning of the poem the speaker finds it strange that the fish does not fight back after being caught. This fish shows some kind of quiet strength. There were five different fishing lines that hung from the fish’s mouth. This shows how strong the fish was to be able to escape death each time. This is how respect ultimately grew on the speaker. In the speaker’s eyes those fishing lines hanging from the fish’s mouth were like gold Olympic medals of honor and strength. This shows how the fish is a determined survivor. Also, the fishing lines show that on numerous occasions this fish couldn’t be caught also it shows determination, strength and, will. This is what made the speaker extremely excited when he said “victory filled the little rented boat” (line 68) because the speaker felt as if he had accomplished something that other five fisherman couldn’t accomplish. This is the highlight of his day which leads 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 speaker gave the fish one more chance at life.

The fish made a transition from being ugly to beautiful in the speaker’s eyes. Bishop used a lot of imagery in describing the fish throughout the poem. The energy we feel from the speaker describing the fish as an ordinary thing is far different from the more appreciative tone the speaker uses to describe the fish at the end of the poem. This changed the reader’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 speaker describes   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 speaker began to notice different things about the fish. The fish went from being an item on dinner that night to being well respected. The speaker 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 you may have to dig a little deeper to figure it out.
