The Fish (Marianne Moore) Themes

In poems about the natural world, it's usually safe to assume that the speaker isn't just talking about how cool the ocean and fish look. Usually there's some sort of symbolism, or deeper meaning,...

You'd think that with all the "dynamite" and "hatchet strokes" the cliff would have had enough and given up by now. But not our cliff. In "The Fish" that symbolic structure endures all the abuse an...

When we talk about life-stuff, we often end up with more questions than answers. "The Fish" also asks lots of life-stuff questions but doesn't give us any big "A-ha" moments. Instead life and death...