A Metaphorical Analysis of Marianne Moores The Fish

Mechanical, hypnotic, and uncanny, The Fish is equal parts beautiful, sinister, and
inscrutable. Many attempts have been made by readers to interpret it, often yielding disparate
results. But considering the eminence of World War I in Modernist literature, and the fact that
Moore wrote this poem in 1918, the piece is positioned correctly in history to comment on the
war. As shall be seen, there is reason to read the poem as a metaphor for the absurdity of global
conflict.
The first and most obvious characteristic of this poem is its visual structure and the
antecedent syllabic form. At a glance the symmetry of the poems stanzas bear the likeness of
shimmering scales; the typographical aesthetic echoes the pieces title. To create this shape,
Moore adheres to a strict pattern of 1-3-9-6-8 syllables, echoing the consistency of waves. The
resulting effect is steady and hypnotic despite resulting syntactical fragmentation. Examples of
fragmentation abound: an / injured fan. (6-7), sun, / split like spun / glass (11-13), and All /
external / marks of abuse are present (26-8). Apart from syntax, the form also disrupts the
anatomy of individual words in the fifth and seventh stanzas. The components of inkbespattered are broken apart in lines 22-23, and the word accident is butchered by the break
between lines 31-32. The jarring affect of breaking up these words slows the reader down, but
also illustrates the uncaring consistency of the waves breaking against the cliff. The form
overpowers the words themselves, akin to the waves domination of individual lifeforms on the
ocean floor, a motif to be explored later.
On a literal level, the poem appears to be a description of the seafloor and an ocean
cliffside from a fishs perspective. Thematically, the poem hovers an eeriness bordering macabre.

At one point in the third stanza, the poem briefly departs from the dreary ocean floor landscape
with a gorgeous description of sunbeams penetrating the water (11-14). But Moore wrests this
repass from the reader with the lines illuminating / the / turquoise sea / of bodies. (15-18). The
imagery is consistently claustrophobic, almost suffocating in its depiction of jade-like waters and
mussel shell covered sea floors (2-5). Corresponding with the fragmentation of ink-bespattered
in lines 22-23, the sea breaks out into a fit of chaos, forcing jellyfish and crabs to slide each on
the other (25). The ocean floor basks in the penumbra of the oceans war with the cliff, and sea
creatures both living and dead are subject to the chaotic whims of the waves.
On a metaphorical level, the poem appears to be a spiteful narrative of ceaseless, fruitless
conflict, permitting comparison with World War I. The sea is at war with the cliff. Their ceaseless
combat is likened to a knightly duel in lines 18-20 where the sea drives a wedge / of iron
through the iron edge / of the cliff. However, the poem portrays the cliff as an adversary the sea
cannot overcome. Though covered in marks of abuse, the cliff continues to withstand the
assault of the waves (28). There are even indications that humans defaced the rock with hatchets
and dynamite, perhaps evocative of the desecrated landscapes across Europe (33-34). But
billions of years of erosion dwarf mankinds meddling, and even they merely prove that [the
cliff] can live on what can not revive / its youth (38-40).
There are consequences to the skirmish, most of which fall upon those living in the sea.
Earlier, the poem notes that the chasm side is / dead (35-36). Presumably, this means that the
oceanss Quixotic quest has done significant harm its citizens. The bed of mussel shells in the
first stanza and the turquoise sea / of bodies can be likened to the aftermath of a battle field.
The only sign of life arises from a mussel adjusting the ash-heaps; / opening and shutting itself

like / an / injured fan (5-7). Use of the word ash-heaps here, as opposed to sand or silt, is
suggestive perhaps of the burning wreckage of a bomb. This image can be read as a metaphorical
depiction of a single, wounded solider writhing in the mud amongst his dead comrades. Later, as
the wave strikes the cliff, all the sea creatures are mixed together. One can easily read this as a
metaphor for the conflict of World War I. The fragmentation of ink-/ bespattered jellyfish
evoke those torn apart by bombs (23), crabs like green / lilies can be read as uniformed
soldiers (23-24), submarine toadstools echo of German U-Boats deployed against American
and British ships (24-25). All of these animals are forced together in a kaleidoscope of turmoil,
evoking the panic of soldiers hiding and fighting in the trenches.
When nature wars against itself, it puts itself at odds with its those who reside in it. Note
that the protagonistic fish of the poem does not swim, he wades (1-2). Like a nation with absurd
designs against its neighbors, the sea injures and impedes those creatures it should nourish and
protect. It has sacrificed and continues to sacrifice the animals in its conflict with the rock. This
struggle is pointless. Though the sea grows old as it kills off its creatures, the cliff remains as
tall and immobile as it had when it first formed (40).