The Fish (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Marianne Moore
- First Published: 1918
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Sea or seafaring life, Beaches or seashores, Fishes, Ocean, Marine animals
The Poem
“The Fish” is a short poem in rhymed syllabic verse; its forty lines are divided into eight stanzas. In this poem, Marianne Moore utilizes elegant imagery and a highly visual structure. Many readers have found “The Fish” obscure, since its primary subject seems not to be fish but the defiant independence of a seaside cliff. Actually, the poem is about the sea, the cliff, and the relationship between them.
Moore often uses the first line of a poem as its title, as she does with “The Fish.” This technique sometimes makes the title less a summing up of...
[The entire page is 1562 words long]
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