Langston Hughes

Catch

Catch - meaning Summary

Playful Myth and Desire

The poem presents a short, playful scene where a boy carries a mermaid he has caught. It compresses a fairy-tale image and adolescent impulse into a single snapshot that mixes innocence and erotic curiosity. The mermaid’s hybrid nature—"half fish, half girl"—frames the boy’s discovery as both wonder and possession, suggesting a naive desire to claim and domesticize an enigmatic, alluring other.

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Big Boy came Carrying a mermaid On his shoulders And the mermaid Had her tail Curved Beneath his arm. Being a fisher boy, He'd found a fish To carry- Half fish, Half girl To marry.

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