SOURCE: Nardo, Anna K. “A ‘recreation of a recreation’: Reading The Compleat Angler,” in South Atlantic Quarterly, 79, No. 3 (Summer, 1980): 302-11.

In the essay below, Nardo explores the reasons for The Complete Angler's popularity, citing Walton's recreation of an imaginary, relaxing fishing trip and praising it as an exercise in the “unity of vision.”

Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler is a puzzling book on two counts: its curious form and its immense and lasting popularity. Part fishing manual (detailing, for example, the feeding habits of the “Tyrant” Pike, the correct methods for scouring “gentles,” and the best recipe for removing the “waterish” taste of the Chub); part meditation on the quiet life (including both a sermon on thankfulness and the “Come live with me” lyrics of Marlowe, Raleigh, and Donne); and part fictional account of a fishing trip (describing a May Day morning on which a fisherman, Piscator...