Commentary on "Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden" by Keith Douglas
Sometimes, people write poems. Sometimes, these poems are about fish. "Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden", written by Keith Douglas, is a portrait of an attractive young woman being watched by a variety of men, who are mostly ugly. Douglas uses extended metaphor, visual imagery, and some other third thing to do something important, like telling us about life.
This poem has a lot of fish in it. But guess what? The fish in this poem aren't really fish! Instead, they are men, but the poet uses an extended metaphor to say that the men are like fish. The woman isn't a fish though--she is a white stone. She is cold and unresponsive, much like a stone is when you try to talk to it. She is also white. All of the fish like the white stone, presumably because it is shiny. The woman is shiny because she wears red lipstick and nail polish; she wants to be watched. She is eating ice cream. All of the men/fish, from all walks of life, watch her eat ice cream. She does it kind of sexily too; she "slyly...slips in a morsel of ice cream". Some of the men try to get with her, and they "nibble or tug". But at the end of the day, she is all alone, because they only want her (most likely) hot bod.
The purpose of this poem is probably to show how this woman is objectified. She will never be worth anything more than in some man's "collection"; will never be more than a trophy wife. This is sad, but Douglas shows that she believes she has no other option, which is created by his use of the color red. Red is a pretty sexy color. She tries to be sexy with her lipstick and nail polish. You know what I mean.
In conclusion, men are fish, that lady is a stone, and they want her, but she's waiting for a richer guy to come along. The lady likes ice cream and money. The men like her lady-ness. I liked this poem. The end.
I really can't do homework anymore! It's so hard! Right now, I'm supposed to be doing a lab for physics. It will get done eventually. Really.
Sometimes, people write poems. Sometimes, these poems are about fish. "Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden", written by Keith Douglas, is a portrait of an attractive young woman being watched by a variety of men, who are mostly ugly. Douglas uses extended metaphor, visual imagery, and some other third thing to do something important, like telling us about life.
This poem has a lot of fish in it. But guess what? The fish in this poem aren't really fish! Instead, they are men, but the poet uses an extended metaphor to say that the men are like fish. The woman isn't a fish though--she is a white stone. She is cold and unresponsive, much like a stone is when you try to talk to it. She is also white. All of the fish like the white stone, presumably because it is shiny. The woman is shiny because she wears red lipstick and nail polish; she wants to be watched. She is eating ice cream. All of the men/fish, from all walks of life, watch her eat ice cream. She does it kind of sexily too; she "slyly...slips in a morsel of ice cream". Some of the men try to get with her, and they "nibble or tug". But at the end of the day, she is all alone, because they only want her (most likely) hot bod.
The purpose of this poem is probably to show how this woman is objectified. She will never be worth anything more than in some man's "collection"; will never be more than a trophy wife. This is sad, but Douglas shows that she believes she has no other option, which is created by his use of the color red. Red is a pretty sexy color. She tries to be sexy with her lipstick and nail polish. You know what I mean.
In conclusion, men are fish, that lady is a stone, and they want her, but she's waiting for a richer guy to come along. The lady likes ice cream and money. The men like her lady-ness. I liked this poem. The end.
I really can't do homework anymore! It's so hard! Right now, I'm supposed to be doing a lab for physics. It will get done eventually. Really.
oh my god that was so wonderful and funny that I actually laughed out loud. Can you hand that in to Mrs. Franke? Pleaaaaaase? (Maybe as a supplement essay to your actual one).....
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I'll consider it, but probably not. I'm not quite sure what kind of sense of humor she has.
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