I used to spend my summers with my granddad and his boat. We would wake up early in the morning and head for the lake to go fishing. We would spend our days basting in the sun waiting patiently for that one BIG fish to catch. Finally, one day I caught the biggest fish I had ever caught before. Needless to say, when we saw it, it looked like it had struggled many hooks and we decided to throw it back in the water to let it go. In Elizabeth Bishop"s "The Fish", she uses the fish as a symbol...
she says, "Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper." This poem relays to me that she felt sympathetic of taking the life of a living organism. It feels that the fish is of the same importance of taking the life of a human being therefore she throws the fish back in to the water. This poem helps me realize what happened that day my granddad and I released the fish back into the water. When someone actually sees a fish in person then they are able to see the true meaning of life itself.