The Fish

pg 12 (This is Poetry)

THEMES

• Nature

• Insight

QUOTES

• “I caught a tremendous fish”

• “He didn’t fight. He hadn’t fought at all”

• “His brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper”

• “While his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen”

• “I admired his sullen face”

• “Five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth”

• “Like medals”

• “Five-haired beard of wisdom”

• “I stared and stared and victory filled up the little rented boat”

• “Until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!”

• “And I let the fish go”

POETIC TECHNIQUES

• Metaphor

Bishop sees herself as the Fish. Bishop, like the fish, was a survivor. The fish has survived despite being scarred by many battles over the years (“five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth”). Bishop has also survived and been scarred (psychologically) by the traumatic events from childhood and onwards.