"The Fish"

[Christopher Griffin]

This poem was a real engaging and enticing read. My first read through, I was thinking strongly of the book "The Old Man and the Sea" by Earnest Hemingway, a book about the struggle of an old man to haul a large swordfish back to land in his small rowboat. This poem, however, seems to be a role reversal. Whereas the man in this poem seems younger, the man in Hemingway's book was battered and worn down from a long life at sea. The roles of the fish switch too, the difference being between a healthy large swordfish and a battered and wounded advisory in "The Fish" The entire poem was a description of this fish and the details of its appearance. Despite the fish being "tremendous", as said in the first line, as the poem continues we see that the fish is tremendous in an unconventional way, by how it has survived in the sea for so long with so much abuse. Where one could interpret the descriptions of the fish like "stained and lost through age/ He was speckled with barnacles/ fine rosettes of lime" (2314, 15-17) as a unappealing view of the fish, I see it the opposite. Because of the age and definition on this fish's physical appearance, it is more beautiful to the narrator than a healthy young fish. Imagine an elder member of your community; one could view their wrinkles as flaws or physical evidence of memories, experience and battles won or lost. I believe that this is the reason towards the end of the poem that the narrator makes the decision that he does. The numerous hooks in the fish's mouth "Like medals with their ribbons" (2315, 61), demonstrated the true struggle this fish endured in its life, and it's tenacity to never surrender to a fight. The fisher could have easily kept the fish, but it is stated that simply knowing he had been the first to successfully capture this fish was victory within itself. Not only did he win this fight, but understood the fights the great fish had endured in its life, which is why I believe he let the fish go, to die honorably for a lifetime of struggle and perseverance. 

[Dr. C.]

Chris,

Great to read your comments, but be sure to put this in "The Fish" thread I already started. :) 

Dr. C.