The Fish

Brad M. Rader

English 1100 Section 124

Dr. Gene Miller

March 10, 2000

“The Fish”

Poems to me are an expression of a person’s outlook on a particular scene or subject. By reading a poem a person can be enlightened and take an understanding of what they are actually reading. In “The Fish”, I personally was caught up in all the excitement because I know what it feels like to catch a really gigantic fish. This poem, to me, shows an outlook on nature that I have always been accustomed to. In writing poems there is a whole category of tools and techniques you can use to make the poem great instead of mediocre. In this poem, to me imagery plays a very big role. When you read the poem the imagery lets you not only think about what you are reading but also it lets you actually see it in your head. Another tool used in the poem is personification. It can help the author do so much more explaining than the usual. Personification in this poem is just as important as the use of imagery is. Also, the ideas/themes of this poem are very crucial as well to make it a very good poem. When Elizabeth Bishop put all of these tools together she made “The Fish” what it is today, a great poem.

The use of imagery in this poem had to be used in just the right way. If it was not used properly then the poem could have lost all meaning and understanding, making the poem pretty much useless.

When Bishop uses lines like this the imagery is shown very well.