Which Lines In This Excerpt From Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish" Show That The Fish Has Given Up Struggling For Survival After Living A Hard Life?

One of the
interesting things about "" is that the reader discovers the significant aspects of
the fish as the speaker of the poem does. The other interesting device of the poem, in terms of
style, is that the speaker reveals her understanding and appreciation for the fish through .
She, the speaker, withholds her thoughts and emotions until the very end of the poem. 

First, note that the poem is not about the "victory" of catching the fish.
The entire poem is of the objective (eventually becoming subjective) perception of the fish. In
objectively describing the fish, the speaker and the reader discover things which lead to a more
subjective appreciation. 

Although the fish doesn't put up a fight, he
continues to fight, to breathe that "terrible oxygen." Upon catching the fish, the
speaker describes it as "battered and venerable / and homely." She has respect
("venerable") for this battered fish and feels pity for its plain, unattractive
("homely") look. This is the objective perspective becoming subjective and more
personal. 

The speaker describes the fish's skin/scales like armor rusted
over time, "shapes like full-blown roses / stained and lost through age." She
describes the fish like an old warrior or an old warship adorned with barnacles and sea weed.
Following these subtle praises of the evidence of the fish's history of survival, the speaker
imagines the fish's colorful insides. She tries to intuit some meaning by looking into the
fish's eyes but sees only a semi-transparent surface ("isinglass") which shows how she
is struggling to achieve a personal understanding of the fish by making objective
observations. 

Acknowledging the five hooks and fishing lines dangling from
the fish's mouth, the speaker thinks of them as signs of wisdom and medals of valor: 

Like medals with their ribbons

frayed and
wavering,

a five-haired beard of wisdom

trailing from his
aching jaw. 

Realizing that this battered, rusted fish
has battled to stay alive so many times, the speaker appreciates the fish's perseverance and
appreciation for life. Seeing the rainbow dispersed on the surface of the oil, the speaker
translates this abundance of color to vitality and symbolic vibrancy with which she thinks the
fish must have lived. The fish might look like old brown wallpaper but it has come to symbolize
the fullness of life which is comparable to the fullness of colors in a rainbow. It is now with
this subjective perception (appreciating life in its full splendor of color and vitality) that
she looks upon everything: the rusted engine, oarlocks, gunnels, and of course, the
fish.