 " The Parable of the Sunfish " is an anecdote with which Ezra Pound opens ABC of Reading , a 1934 work of literary criticism . Pound uses this anecdote to emphasize an empirical approach for learning about art , in contrast to relying on commentary rooted in abstraction . While the parable is based on students ' recollections of Louis Agassiz 's teaching style , Pound 's retelling diverges from these sources in several respects . The parable has been used to illustrate the benefits of scientific thinking , but more recent literary criticism has split on whether the parable accurately reflects the scientific process and calls into question Pound 's empirical approach to literature . 
