Question

Which lines in this excerpt from Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish" use assonance?

Answer 1

Assonance is when a poet repeats the same vowels in numerous consecutive words. Here it occurs in lines such as
with tiny white sea-lice,
Here she repeats the /ai/ diphthong
or
rags of green weed hung down.
where she repeats /i/ in green and weed.

Answer 2

Answer:

fine rosettes of lime,

and infested

with tiny white sea-lice,

and underneath two or three

rags of green weed hung down.

While his gills were breathing in

the terrible oxygen

--the frightening gills,

Explanation:

Assonance is the repeated use of the same vowel/ vowel sounds in near proximity in a line of poetry. This literary device consist of the repetition of the diphtho ng in any un-rhymed words in poetry.

Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Fish" also uses this device in many of her lines. The lines

"fine rosettes of lime,

and infested

with tiny white sea-lice,

and underneath two or three

rags of green weed hung down.

While his gills were breathing in

the terrible oxygen

--the frightening gills,

the use of assonance is seen the most. Though there are no rhyming words in them, they contains more of assonance.  

Assonance is seen in the use of the "i", "o",  

fine rosettes of lime,

and infested

with tiny white sea-lice,

and underneath two or three

rags of green weed hung down.

While his gills were breathing in

the terrible oxygen

--the frightening gills.