While reading this poem a thought occurred to me one in which I incorporated into my exercise but also wish to get further insight. When Bishop catches then studies the fish she receives a sort of epiphany at the end. I feel that what she described has an even deeper meaning. The fish was described as gruesome in physical appearance but also a warrior. He continued to struggle to live and be free despite many attempts to be caught. It made me think of society in general.
The "look" in society and what is deemed acceptable is always changing. In Greek times Women who had meat and would be considered heavy set by today's standards were once considered beautiful. They were good for bearing children and it showed off their social standing. They were rich enough to eat well. Yet today all we see in fashion is skinny women practically a size zero with no figure and many try to accomplish this look through sacrificing their health.Much like the fish being considered ugly. But by who's standards. The fish is shown to have beautiful aspects as well or so Bishop points out.
Then we have the fish's desire to break free, he had many hooks stuck within his lips and threads from fish lines hanging off. It reminds me of society's struggle today with the government and economy. We fight and struggle so hard everyday for simple things that should come to us for free such as food and shelter. Without these things we would die. Yet many people take on numerous jobs and sacrifice themselves and their families in order to gain such things. Just like the fish fought for his freedom which was given to him at birth so do we. We fight for freedom, equality, and basic necessities.
Much like this poem and Bishops view we consistently ignore the beauty of nature and the true meaning of life. Are we really here to feed our economy? Sacrifice ourselves for capitalism? Downgrade and judge others by appearances? My questions to these poems include not only this but one for everyone else as well. Do you see any other aspects in this poem that contribute to society and the struggles we face similar to the fish?
I like the jump you made from the fish to capitalism. It was humorous at first, that you dared to make such a leap, but you made it work. And it's true, we struggle to survive same as the fish. However, there is one difference: the fish struggles because it's his nature to. Survival as a baser instinct. We struggle to survive because we have yet to rise above the oppressive society which we were born into, whether first or third world. In other words WE have a choice.
ReplyDeleteInteresting distinction... yes, blogs are a good place to think out of the box, so to speak, a bit. If you can tie the socio-economic angle closely and realistically into details of a close reading, you might have something--for eg., the speaker's boat is rented. Do the various lines (fish lines, not lines of poetry, though ryhthm could be another thing to consider, as well as the quality of speech and syntax)suggest anything about economic class? Interestingly, of course, fishing can be a sport of the extremely poor and the very wealthy, though differently... in any case, the kind of fish one goes after in a yacht is not the same one would fo after in a row boat... other details--frayed wallpaper, old isinglass--can also be productive. You might look at the definition and eg. of Marxist criticism on the VirtuaLit exercise on Bishop (see syllabus for link)
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your points and views that we can relate; other aspects in this poem that contribute to society and the struggles we face similar to the fish.
ReplyDeleteLike the Fish, we to can become hook and and caught up in society with the superficial-materialistic things that takes us away from celebrating our accomplishments or just simply enjoying the true beauty of life and nature as a whole. Please take a look at my blog we have similar concepts and views in common and also posed a question to my fellow scholar classmates.