PROMPT
POMprompt #20 Big Fish, Little Fish
Fishing is one of the oldest metaphors.
There’s a whole lot of symbolism in fish and fishing topics found throughout literature, including poetry. Thoreau, Hemmingway, and even Dr. Seuss found fish to be a topic worthy of great explorations. I, too, have written often about fish symbols within the body of my work.
This POMprompt is simple: write your own poem using any of the topics or symbolism of fish and fishing within the context of your poem, either directly or metaphorically (as in the two poems of mine, listed below.)
Take it a step further and read something classic on this topic — whether a book, a poem, or a few literature quotes. Search for fishing topics right here on Medium and see what you find. Go down that fishing hole and see what you find to inspire you today. What bounty of inspiration?
Directions for how to POMprompt at the bottom of this post and here.
Below are some things to get you inspired!
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after,” Henry David Thoreau.
Fishing is a big topic in literature and the arts
- fish as a symbol
- fishing as a action or metaphor
- being a fisherman as a demonstration of purpose or intent
- fisher’s of men from the Biblical references, bringing religious tones to the topic
- famous literature adores this topic
- the Bible is full of fishing references
- symbols exist through many cultures; the many fishes symbol in Native American culture, as an example
Famous books written about fish or fishing
- Ernest Hemmingway; The Old Man and the Sea (This is a must read.)
- Norman Maclean; A River Runs Through It
- James Duncan; The River Why
- Dr. Seuss; One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
- Ernest Hemmingway; The Big Two-Hearted River
- I think we can safely count Herman Mellville’s Moby Dick, though it was a whale.
From Some of My Own Work:
Yes, there’s a fish metaphor in this article (a very inspirational one!)
Poems of Mine With a Fish Metaphor
Famous Fish Quotes and Poems (If you need inspiration)
Now — onward fishers of poetry!
Remember to:
- Put the LINK FOR THIS POMPROMPT at the bottom of your post.
- Publish wherever you like
- Use POMprompt as one of your 5 tags.
We look forward to your entries :) Christina M. Ward (and co-editor Samantha Lazar)