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Why does the speaker let the fish go at the end of Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish"?
Quick answer:
The speaker lets the fish go because they recognize its perseverance and survival. Examining the fish's aged body and battle scars from previous escapes, the speaker sees the fish as a symbol of strength and wisdom. Realizing that landing the fish is a sufficient victory, they decide it is more noble to preserve its life than to kill it.
In "The Fish," the speaker catches a "tremendous" fish. This old fish doesn't even fight her as she reels him in. She notes the details of this fish—his skin, which hangs off of him, is covered in barnacles. As she realizes the history of this fish, she realizes that there is no victory in taking his life.
He has survived so much. She sees that this fish has been a fighter in the past as she notes:
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
Like a war veteran, the fish displays his medals from former victories with a quiet reverence of spirit. These battle scars are a part of him, both metaphorically and physically. The speaker notes that it gives him an air...
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of "wisdom" as the lines trail from his jaw.
And now this old guy can fight no longer. He has lived his best years and seen stronger days. But the speaker recognizes the victory of a life well-fought. As she sees this reflected in the old fish she's caught, "victory filled up / the little rented boat," and she cannot kill him. She spares his life because of what he represents: perseverance, struggle, and strength. The world becomes a rainbow, connoting hope and promise, as she lets this wise old fish live.
"The Fish" is a poem in which the speaker, as a respecter of life, becomes sympathetic to the fish. In line 34 the speaker says she
looked into his eyes/which were far larger than mine/but shallower...the irises backed and packed/...seen thruogh the lenses of old scratched isinglasss
It is at this point that the speaker perceives the old fish as a venerable character from whose lip hang
five old pices of fish-line...Like medals with their ribbons/frayed and wavering,/a five-haired beard of wisdom/trailing from his aching jaw.
That this old fish has beaten five other fisherman causes the speaker to revere the fish. She thinks, she "stares" and "victory filled up the little rented boat." Who is she to reel in this venerable fish, who has survived for so long against five other adversaries? Out of respect and sympathy for the fish who has won these previous battles, she throws him back.
In her calm, understated tone, Elizabeth Bishop moves from the ordinary description of a fish similar to a ling or cod to a philosophical insight. As the speaker states and "victory" fills the boat, she remarks that "everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!" before she lets the fish go. It is at this point that the speaker realizes the wisdom of revering life, especially the life of one who has struggled to live and endure.