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Guest Posted 22 years ago

Fishes' Heaven by Rupert Brooke

I really love this poem, it's so sweet and funny, but so symbolic of human beings thinking very serious things! For those of you who haven't read it, here it is:

Fish (fly-replete, in depth of June,
Dawdling away their wat'ry noon)
Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear,
Each secret fishy hope or fear.
Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond;
But is there anything Beyond?
This life cannot be All, they swear,
For how unpleasant, if it were!
One may not doubt that, somehow, Good
Shall come of Water and of Mud;
And, sure, the reverent eye must see
A Purpose in Liquidity.
We darkly know, by Faith we cry,
The future is not Wholly Dry.
Mud unto mud! Death eddies near
Not here the appointed End, not here!
But somewhere, beyond Space and Time,
Is wetter water, slimier slime!
And there (they trust) there swimmeth One
Who swam ere rivers were begun,
Immense, of fishy form and mind,
Squamous, omnipotent and kind;
And under that Almighty Fin,
The littlest fish may enter in.
Oh! never fly conceals a hook,
Fish say, in the Eternal Brook,
But more than mundane weeds are there,
and mud, celestially fair;
Fat caterpillars drift around,
And Paradisal grubs are found;
Unfading moths, immortal flies,
And the worm that never dies.
And in that Heaven of all their wish,
There shall be no more land, say fish.

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Feel free to discuss it or ask questions.
  

Top answer

And, sure, the reverent eye must see A Purpose in Liquidity. A touch of Marvell there, do you think?

  • And, sure, the reverent eye must see A Purpose in Liquidity.
  • A touch of Marvell there, do you think?
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3 Answers
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And, sure, the reverent eye must see
A Purpose in Liquidity.

A touch of Marvell there, do you think?
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How do you mean, MrP? I haven't read much of Andrew Marvell's works.
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Hello Guest

Something in the rhythm and tone and diction reminds me of Marvell's poems, e.g. 'The Bermudas'.

In fact, I wonder whether it's deliberate — 'purpose in liquidity' is a very 17th century phrase, as the capitalization suggests.

MrP

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