"The Fish" Elizabeth Bishop

Key themes in this poem are:

• Suffering and Resillience

• Loneliness and Struggles

• Solidarity and Commonality

• Humanity and Nature

There is a tone of __________ when we see the fish puts up no fight in the beginning.

Bishop experiences a moment of 1)_________ and releases the fish out of 2)__________ for his struggles and his determination.

• 1) epiphany 2) love

• 1) realisation 2) respect

• 1) epiphany 2) respect

• 1) realisation 2) love

Bishop uses unusual similes and images. Choose the simile from the following:

• "He hung a grunting weight"

• "While his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen"

• "the dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails"

• "Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering"

Bishop presents us a fish whom she sees as a ___________.

Throughout her poem, Bishop deliberately makes use of Personification to help us to ...

• appreciate the fish as a character who has survived much, as we humans might.

• see the fish as more than simply a meal to be caught, killed, and forgotten.

• understand that we share the planet with creatures who may be more than we give them credit for.

• all of the above

In the penultimate line of the poem, Bishop uses a repetition to demonstrate her wonder and awe. What word is repeated in this line?

This poem has a particular format, tick the boxes that are relevant to how this poem is written.

• Multiple stanzas

• A Fable with a moral

• Singular Narrative

• First person perspective

• Multiple perspectives

The fish is used as the central ________ of the poem, like in an old fable.

By the end of the poem we may have a clue as to why the fish did not struggle in the beginning:

• He had never experienced this before and was confused

• He was terrified and drowning in oxygen

• He had been caught many times in his past and was perhaps too exhausted to fight any more

• He knew she would let him go because he'd been let go five times before