The speaker even finds beauty in the hooks
protruding from the fish’s lower lip. Although
that beauty is not as explicit as the speaker’s ear-
lier comparison to flowers, it is implicit in her
fascination with them, in her ascribing to them
an honorable meaning, and in the resultant
respect they inspire in her. The beauty that the
poet finds in the fish’s ugliness also extends to the
ugliness that surrounds her. The rickety old boat
and its sun-worn and corroded parts all take on
the same measure of intense beauty. Notably, this
theme is derivative of the poem’s main theme.
‘‘The Fish’’ demonstrates that beauty can only
be found in the ugly via intense observation.
Style
Descriptive Language and Simile
Given that ‘‘The Fish’’ is a poem about observation,
the predominant stylistic device Bishop employs
is descriptive language. This includes adjectives,
such as the use of color to describe the fish’s skin,
organs, and eyes, as well as to describe the lice and
seaweed that cling to him. Adjectives are also used
to assign the fish his large size, his heavy weight, his
ugly appearance, his terrifying gills, the impressive
size and minimal depth of his eyes, and the morose
expression on his face. However, the use of simile,
of comparing one thing to another (often using
the word ‘‘like’’ or ‘‘as’’), is the most prominent,
or effective, descriptive device used in the poem.
Indeed, the word ‘‘like’’ appears seven times in the
first sixty-one lines in the poem (the section that is
devoted to the observation of the fish and precedes
the speaker’s epiphany). The speaker uses simile to
compare the fish’s skin to wallpaper, and then uses
it doubly to compare that wallpaper to flowers.
Simile is also used to describe the fish’s skeleton
and is used when the speaker compares the fish’s
bladder to a flower. In one striking instance, simile
is used to ascribe unconscious movement to the
fish’s eyes, underscoring the speaker’s treatment
of the fish as an inanimate object. Simile is once
again used when the hooks grown into the fish’s
mouth are compared to badges of honor. In this
latter instance, metaphor is also implied, as the
badges of honor are symbols of a hard-won knowl-
edge and experience.Freshly caught fish(Image copyright The Finalmiracle, 2009. Used under license from Shutterstock.com)
The Fish