Fish

Elizabeth Bishop's poem, The Fish, was a rather debated poem in class.  I'm going to pick on Dan Hodges a minute (sorry Dan), because we had differing ideas about the poem.  For Dan, the poem almost seemed pointless.  I could understand where he was coming from.  In my opinion, its pointlessness is what makes it beautiful.  The poem forces the reader to acknowledge that something so simple could be something beautiful.  This poem was definitely the most eye-opening poem of the semester for me.

Again I'm going to touch base on day-to-day lifestyles.  For myself, I'm always so busy with many different things I have going on, work, soccer, school and choir, that when I'm doing something simple, it sometimes goes without acknowledgement.  One example is: when I have a day off, sometimes from everything, I forget to appreciate that day.  I forget to enjoy the weather outside, especially on a nice sunny day; I forget to take pictures, to take walks, to simply enjoy life.  Then the following day I regret not using the previous day to my advantage.  The poem, The Fish, seems like one of those moments.  It's as though the author is finally recognizing the beauty of fish and how a simple creature can be something beautiful.  The end of the poem adds to my argument.  The author is describing the oil and bilge from the boat; it's an image of filth.  However, it's victory for the narrator to have this fish in her hands.  The victory symbolizes the fish still being alive and overcoming the filth surrounding it.  I compare this to our lives; we go through life, busy, perhaps surrounded by oil and bilge, yet at the end, we catch a break and life goes back to being colorful.