Elizabeth Bishop. English Poetry Revision Notes. Covering:

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1 Elizabeth Bishop English Poetry Revision Notes Covering: - The Fish - The Bight - At the Fishhouses - The Prodigal - Questions of Travel - The Armadillo - Sestina - First Death in Nova Scotia - Filling Station - In the Waiting Room irevise.com Elizabeth Bishop Poetry English Revision notes.

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4 Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956 and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in Elizabeth Bishop House is an artists' retreat in Great Village, Nova Scotia dedicated to her memory. She is considered one of the most important and distinguished American poets of the 20th century. The Fish Text The Fish I caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth. 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. He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, and infested with tiny white sea-lice, and underneath two or three rags of green weed hung down. While his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen the frightening gills, fresh and crisp with blood, that can cut so badly I thought of the coarse white flesh packed in like feathers, the big bones and the little bones, the dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails, and the pink swim-bladder 4 Elizabeth Bishop Poetry English Revision notes.

5 like a big peony. I looked into his eyes which were far larger than mine but shallower, and yellowed, the irises backed and packed with tarnished tinfoil seen through the lenses of old scratched isinglass. They shifted a little, but not to return my stare. It was more like the tipping of an object toward the light. I admired his sullen face, the mechanism of his jaw, and then I saw that from his lower lip if you could call it a lip 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. A green line, frayed at the end where he broke it, two heavier lines, and a fine black thread still crimped from the strain and snap when it broke and he got away. Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering, a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw. I stared and stared and victory filled up the little rented boat, from the pool of bilge where oil had spread a rainbow around the rusted engine to the bailer rusted orange, the sun-cracked thwarts, the oarlocks on their strings, the gunnels until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go. 5 Elizabeth Bishop Poetry English Revision notes.

6 Summary In this poem, the narrator catches a large fish while fishing in a little rented boat. They study the catch for a period of time, holding it up, half out of water, beside the boat. The fish is old and gnarly-looking, with barnacles and algae growing on it; it also has five fishing hooks, with the lines still partially attached hanging, from its jaw. The narrator considers how tough this fish must be and how much he probably had to fight. With this consideration, they begin to respect the fish. The poem climaxes when an oil spillage in the boat makes a rainbow and the narrator, overcome with emotion a result of their consideration of the fish, and the scene, releases the fish back into the water. Annotation The Fish I caught a tremendous fish (adjective stresses the size of the fish) and held him beside the boat half out of water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth. He didn t fight. He hadn t fought at all. He hung a grunting weight, (power of three highlight s the fish s passivity; powerless despite size) battered and venerable (another power of three to describe the fish s deteriorating condition) and homely. Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper, (simile another image of deterioration with connotations of aging) and its pattern of darker brown was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age. (simile repeated and extended to develop idea of aging/mortality) He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, (imagery returns to the sea/water) and infested (verb retains sense of mortality, introduces idea of disease) with tiny white sea-lice, (associated with disease/illness) and underneath two or three rags of green weed hung down. While his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen (waterless air is harmful to the fish; implicit reference to oxygen s aging effect) the frightening gills, 6 Elizabeth Bishop Poetry English Revision notes.

7 fresh and crisp with blood, (oxymoron unexpected contrast between fresh, crisp and blood ) that can cut so badly I thought of the coarse white flesh packed in like feathers, the big bones and the little bones, the dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails, and the pink swim-bladder like a big peony. (imagery of the body; though dying, the fish retains its greatness) I looked into his eyes which were far larger than mine (sense that the narrator feels inferior to the fish) but shallower, and yellowed, the irises backed and packed with tarnished tinfoil seen through the lenses of old scratched isinglass. They shifted a little, but not to return my stare. It was more like the tipping of an object toward the light. (A reminder that the fish is dying; soon it will not see) I admired his sullen face, the mechanism of his jaw, (idea of narrator s inferiority/admiration for the fish developed) and then I saw that from his lower lip if you could call it a lip 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. (narrator realises that the fish has been a survivor for so long) A green line, frayed at the end where he broke it, two heavier lines, and a fine black thread still crimped from the strain and snap when it broke and he got away. (reminder of the fish s strength/size despite his current weakness) Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering, (connotations of war here; the fish has fought to survive) a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw. I stared and stared and victory filled up the little rented boat, (repetition of stared / victory metaphor concludes narrator s admiration) from the pool of bilge where oil had spread a rainbow 7 Elizabeth Bishop Poetry English Revision notes.

8 around the rusted engine (hopeful metaphor; suggests old/wounded objects/people still have life) to the bailer rusted orange, the sun-cracked thwarts, the oarlocks on their strings, the gunnels until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! (the image of hope/life consumes the narrator) And I let the fish go. (taken by their admiration for the fish/realisation that it has survived so much, and the sense of hope fostered by the rainbow, the narrator releases the fish, back into life itself; ending somewhat ambiguous, we don t know where the fish will survive being returned to the water, though it has done many times before. Sense of hope suggests it will, and/or that the narrator has been restored in some way) To read more upgrade become A Grade member. Click here Get Unlimited Access Why become A-Grade member? Access unlimited Revision Premium revision notes Created by top class teachers and subject experts. Access revision content across a wide range of subjects. Access almost 1000 maths tutorials helping you understand, learn and approach maths questions to ace your exams. Access A Grade Sample Answers to help steer you in the right direction. Access mock exam papers (unseen) and marking schemes to help you continuously practice. Access revision notes any time any where Only 5.99 per month "My daughter was a member of mocks.ie last year, she found it great and excellent value. She got access to revision notes, A grade sample answers and exam papers. I would have no hesitation in recommending any parent signing their students up for the year!! All in all an excellent revision resource" - Sinead Leonard, Sligo." Get Unlimited Access 8 Elizabeth Bishop Poetry English Revision notes.

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