In her poem entitled “The Fish,” Elizabeth Bishop tells the story of a fisherman who catches an old, battle-worn fish. The experience led the fisherman to a discovery that inspired her to throw the fish back into the water. The revelation struck her when she realized that the fish had fought time and time again to survive fishermen’s attempts to catch it; she could see how difficult survival had been for the fish, which had calmly allowed the narrator to lift it out of the water. This fish served as a lesson for the fisherman that people often forget the intelligence the natural world possesses. The fish is a reminder that nature can survive despite the hardships mankind creates for it.