# Tramp and Fish explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by James McIntyre.

## What happens

A hungry tramp steals a bunch of fish and is brought before a magistrate. The judge, after questioning, determines that the tramp hooked the fish himself and finds no violation of fishery laws, rebuking the constable for seizing the man without proper cause.

## Themes in this chapter

### Moral Lessons and Domestic Virtue

The poem illustrates a moral lesson about justice and the rights of the poor, emphasizing that not all theft is criminal if the means are lawful.

## Character check-ins

### Poor Tom

The tramp who steals fish and is brought before the magistrate.

## Key lines

> He has not broken any clause I know of in our fishery laws. Unless you can show this reason, He has hooked them out of season, Your duty you have thus mistook, For man had right the fish to hook.

The judge declares that the tramp has not violated any fishery law unless the fish were caught out of season, and that the constable was wrong to arrest him because a man has the right to hook fish.

_This passage highlights the judge's interpretation of the law, favoring the tramp's right to fish._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_12_se/chapters/tramp-and-fish
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_12_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_12_se/chapters