The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop, 1946, An Analysis

The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop. https://sangabrieltutor.wordpress.com/

UNDERSTANDING “The Fish”
Place the fish in a historical context. It’s easy to do. Look at the first line of the poem, “I caught a tremendous fish . . . .” In the annals of American literature, what “tremendous fish” stands almost alone against all other fish that you’ve heard of? Isn’t it Moby Dick? And because “The Fish” is considered an American poem, start by comparing Bishop’s fish with Melville’s fish, Moby Dick.

CONTEXT OF AMERICAN LITERATURE
Though Jonah’s Whale is one of the earliest stories about a fish in Western literature, Melville’s Moby Dick is the fish against which other writers and readers measure theirs. Along with Marianne Moore’s “The Fish” (1918), Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” (1946), Hemingway's “Old Man and the Sea” (1952), and even Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” (1961), where a terrible fish rises toward the speaker day after day, tales about fish are stories about redemption.

The fish in Marianne Moore’s poem wades through the water, a rather unusual action for a fish. Fish swim, don’t they? Though that subaqueous world is beautiful, it is still a brutal one with “. . . all the physical features of accident . . . .”

Following Moore’s “The Fish” (1918) comes Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, “The Fish” (1946), where the speaker observes that the fish “hadn't fought at all." In contrast to Moby Dick, Bishop’s fish is downright freaky. Whereas Moby Dick riles Ahab to vengeance, the fight in Bishop’s fish is peculiarly all used up. Bishop hooks our attention with a fish that "hadn't fought at all" and then proceeds into a detailed description of the fish. Most fishermen will identify a fish caught, saying "Ah, I got a rainbow trout!" or "It's a bass!" or "Oh, yeah, brown trout, baby!" Whereas Bishop's fish is "battered and venerable and homely," the only description we get of Ahab's whale is its terrifying whiteness. Bishop's fish has "dramatic reds and blacks," a "pink swim-bladder," and a "pattern of darker brown" wallpaper. Not only is Moby Dick's visibility a chance occurrence, all that one sees of the whale prior to the end is a fluke, one of the lobes of its tail. Bishop's fish is more intimate and its description serves conciliatory ends. A non-combative fish is the antithesis of experience, but Bishop uses it to compel the reader to examine convictions for fighting, in this case for justice and redemption against mistreatment by others. The fish serves as an allegory for how we attain calm and poise from personal grievances. The adventure is a private and resolute path toward self-knowledge. Ahab was maniacal in his determination. His fire could not tolerate questions or doubts. After a series of observations, Bishop’s speaker releases her fish, effectively stepping out of the fight with one’s past, freeing her up for more productive endeavors. Ahab's regeneration, on the other hand, was a pursuit that ended in self-immolation.

Bishop’s poem is a riff on Marianne Moore's "The Fish" and a reply to Melville’s novel. Whereas Melville pursues the whale with a vengeance, the speaker in Bishop’s poem turns to gratitude to defuse personal hurt and instead relies on that intelligent part of herself that helps her survive terrifying circumstances. Inevitably, this survival takes place beyond the view of everyone else. Our strengths, and our abilities are submerged from prying, condemning, judgmental eyes. In this light, past injuries are private trophies marked as victories. How our injuries are viewed by others is a different story for which we may have to reckon.