Student Question

In "The Fish," how does the speaker regard the caught fish?

Quick answer:

In "The Fish," the speaker initially regards the caught fish with a sense of pity and respect. The fish is described as "battered," "venerable," and "homely," with skin hanging "like ancient wallpaper," indicating its age and the speaker's empathy. This portrayal suggests a connection with the fish's endurance and prepares for the shift in the speaker's perspective later in the poem.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

There is of course a massive change that the speaker undergoes during the course of the poem with regards to his or her feelings towards the fish, however, the other question that I have just answered for you deals with this, so I will only focus on the way the speaker contemplates the fish at the beginning of this excellent poem.

If anything, the fish that the speaker has caught at the beginning of the poem is an animal that he or she feels immense pity or sadness for. Note how the fish is described in the following quote:

He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.

Adjectives such as "battered" and "venerable" and "homely" together with the description of his skin hanging "in strips / like ancient wallpaper" and his passive response to being caught seem to show that the speaker feels pity for the fish and also some kind of respect. The speaker seems to empathise and connect with the fish and its aged status, and only pities its poor condition because of its age. This of course prepares us for the shift in the speaker's thinking towards the fish that occurs later on in the poem.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial