Journals

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lice and barnacles. We are not sure if it is a gulf, sea, bay, or ocean. We can probably assume it's not the high seas because the whole poem takes place in "the little rented boat."

One theme I think "The Fish" possess is that it might be one of the most clear-cut examples of man vs. the natural world. The cool thing about this struggle is that there is very little struggle at all. The speaker catches the fish then holds the fish out of the water for a bit and ultimately lets him go. So while the scenario allows for the man vs. wild battle, there is no real violence. The struggle happens within the speaker, and ultimately ends peacefully.

Another theme I think this poem has is one of humility. At first we might think that the fish is humbled by the fisher, because he doesn't even bother to fight against being caught. The rest of "The Fish" demonstrates how much respect the speaker has for the fish, and how humbled she is by the fish's heroic and violent past. Respect and ...

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can't find his words or his footing. He's been deeply affected by the violence he saw, and he's torturing himself with the idea that he and the man he killed could have been best friends, if the circumstances had been different. We're betting he has all kinds of deep thoughts and feelings about this whole big mess, but he's too wounded to hash it out.

It's clear that these circumstances are a bit beyond him. He's just one average man in the big mess called war, and he can't quite see the big picture. But that's not really any fault of his. At the end of the day, he's one of thousands of men who are forced, by orders, by chance, and by war to kill other men.


Dulce et Decorum ...

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