Poem of the Week – The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop made the difficult genre of descriptive poetry look easy. Armed with her adroit phrasing and vivid vocabulary, she explored subjects like encountering animals and childhood memories.

Unlike her literary contemporaries, Bishop avoided the poetic practice of intimate admissions about her private life. She was a discreet artist who understood the deep resonance a suggestion can engender in a reader as opposed to an overt statement. Deemed one of the most gifted American poets of the last century, Bishop often rejected requests to be included in all-female anthologies and seldom spoke about her lesbian relationships. In her later years, she was chastised by activists for her reticence with regards to feminism and LGBT rights, but her perceived insouciance towards these issues was not an indifference to social progress, it was her putting emphasis on the inherent effectiveness and originality of her work.

Her lack of self interest is wonderfully refreshing in a time when identity-centred art is encouraged by critics. Bishop left behind a body of literature that consistently displays her sophisticated critical faculties, advertises her appreciation of traditional and international verse, and evinces her unassuming eagerness to write in her own way. This week’s selection is called The Fish. Her genius for lyrical yet precise, profound yet quaint picturing is evident in the poem below. The odd charm she achieves by comparing a fish’s scales to wallpaper and old hooks hanging out its mouth to medals sets her apart from her contemporaries- the exquisitely dramatic confessionalists – whom she defended and befriended. We hope you enjoy this week’s choice as much as we did.

Read The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop here.