Flowers (Motif)
In two separate places, the poem's speaker compares parts of the fish to flowers. First, the speaker compares the fish's skin to patterned wallpaper, and then compares the dark spots on it to a pattern of roses. Later in the work, the speaker compares the animal's swim bladder to a peony, another type of flower. The fish is elsewhere described as both "tremendous" and "homely," so these figurative links to flowers—which are traditionally associated with beauty, delicacy, and romance—create a surprising contrast. In fact, these comparisons are some of the first clues in the poem that the speaker is developing a sympathy for and identification with the fish well beyond what she experienced at the start of the work.
Fishing Lines (Symbol)
The fishing lines (and the attached hooks) stuck in the fish's mouth symbolize the animal's continued victory over death. The speaker catches sight of these objects and immediately understands that the fish has been caught by other people—and, just as pertinently, that it has escaped. The speaker pays attention not only to the hooks and lines themselves, but to the places where they are frayed and wrinkled. These spots are evidence of the fish exercising agency by breaking free. At the sight of these fishing lines, the speaker gains an understanding of the fish as an autonomous subject, and of her own potential role in the fish's life. She understands that she can either cause the end of the fish's life, or allow it to escape and remain victorious.
The Rainbow (Symbol)
As the speaker gains an understanding of the fish's past escapes, she is filled with euphoric, transcendent joy. This joy seems to stem from intense empathy with the animal—she is thrilled on behalf of the victorious fish, and perhaps also thrilled simply by the experience of understanding an experience so foreign to her own. The speaker's joy is symbolized by a rainbow. Bishop describes this rainbow filling the boat, transforming all that is mundane and unremarkable inside it. Through the sheer force of the speaker's intense emotional experiences, the world is made beautiful.
