"The Man-Moth" tells the story of an elusive, city-dwelling creature who lives underground and only emerges at night. The Man-Moth climbs buildings in an attempt to reach the moon, which he thinks is a hole in the sky, but fails every time. Later, he returns home via "silent" subway trains on which he doesn't speak to anyone. The poem's surreal imagery allows for many interpretations, but its themes broadly revolve around perseverance, ambition, hope, and disappointment. The enigmatic Man-Moth seems detached from everyone around him, and his lonely surroundings further evoke the hollowness of urban life. In his relentless compulsion to reach the moon, the Man-Moth might also symbolize the artist's compulsion to create. "The Man-Moth" appeared in Bishop's 1946 collection North and South, but she wrote the poem about a decade earlier while in her 20s and living in Manhattan—a place that proved formative for her career but which she also found deeply isolating. The title was inspired by a newspaper typo for "mammoth."

• Read the full text of “The Man-Moth”

• “The Man-Moth” Summary

• “The Man-Moth” Themes

  • 

    The Isolation and Loneliness of Urban Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-8
    • Lines 11-13
    • Lines 17-22
    • Lines 25-32
    • Lines 33-40
  • 

    Failure, Despair, and Self-Destruction

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-16
    • Lines 17-24
    • Lines 25-32
    • Lines 33-40
  • 

    Ambition and Perseverance

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-8
    • Lines 9-16
    • Lines 17-24
  • 

    Artistic Creation and Compulsion

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-8
    • Lines 9-16
    • Lines 17-24
    • Lines 41-48

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Man-Moth”

  • Before Line 1

    Man-Moth: Newspaper misprint for "mammoth."

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 1-5

    Here, above, ...
    ... to the moon.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-8

    He does not ...
    ... record in thermometers.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-16

    But when the ...
    ... he can climb.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-21

    Up the façades, ...
    ... on the light.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-24

    (Man, standing below ...
    ... but quite unhurt.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    Then he returns ...
    ... doors close swiftly.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-32

    The Man-Moth always ...
    ... he travels backwards.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 33-36

    Each night he ...
    ... his rushing brain.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 36-40

    He does not ...
    ... must wear mufflers.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 41-44

    If you catch ...
    ... up the eye.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 44-48

    Then from the ...
    ... enough to drink.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Man-Moth” Symbols

  • 

    Climbing to the Moon

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 11: “the moon looks rather different to him”
    • Line 16: “He trembles, but must investigate as high as he can climb”
    • Lines 19-21: “he climbs fearfully, thinking that this time he will manage / to push his small head through that round clean opening / and be forced through,”
    • Line 23: “But what the Man-Moth fears most he must do”
  • 

    The Third Rail

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 37-38: “for the third rail, the unbroken draught of poison, / runs there beside him.”
  • 

    The Modern City

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “cracks in the buildings are filled with battered moonlight”
    • Line 17: “the façades,”
    • Line 26: “the pale subways of cement”
    • Line 27: “the silent trains”
    • Line 30: “the train starts at once at its full, terrible speed”
    • Line 34: “artificial tunnels”
  • 

    The Tear

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 44-48: “Then from the lids / one tear, his only possession, like the bee’s sting, slips. / Slyly he palms it, and if you’re not paying attention / he’ll swallow it. However, if you watch, he’ll hand it over, / cool as from underground springs and pure enough to drink.”

• “The Man-Moth” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “The whole shadow of Man is only as big as his hat. / It lies at his feet like a circle for a doll to stand on”
    • Line 18: “his shadow dragging like a photographer’s cloth behind him”
    • Line 21: “be forced through, as from a tube, in black scrolls on the light”
    • Line 45: “one tear, his only possession, like the bee’s sting, slips”
    • Line 48: “cool as from underground springs and pure enough to drink”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “above,”
    • Line 2: “moonlight.”
    • Line 3: “hat.”
    • Line 4: “on,”
    • Line 5: “moon.”
    • Line 6: “properties,”
    • Line 7: “cold,”
    • Line 8: “thermometers.”
    • Line 10: “surface,”
    • Line 13: “buildings.”
    • Line 14: “sky,”
    • Line 15: “protection.”
    • Line 16: “climb.”
    • Line 17: “façades,”
    • Line 21: “light.”
    • Line 22: “illusions.)”
    • Line 24: “unhurt.”
    • Line 26: “flits,”
    • Line 28: “swiftly.”
    • Line 30: “speed,”
    • Line 31: “sort.”
    • Line 32: “backwards.”
    • Line 34: “dreams.”
    • Line 36: “window,”
    • Line 37: “poison,”
    • Line 40: “mufflers.”
    • Line 41: “him,”
    • Line 42: “pupil,”
    • Line 45: “slips.”
    • Line 47: “over,”
    • Line 48: “drink.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “buildings,” “battered”
    • Line 5: “pin,” “point,” “magnetized,” “moon”
    • Line 9: “Man-Moth”
    • Line 15: “proving,” “protection”
    • Line 17: “façades”
    • Line 18: “photographer’s,” “cloth”
    • Line 19: “climbs,” “fearfully”
    • Line 23: “Man-Moth,” “fears”
    • Line 24: “fails,” “falls”
    • Line 26: “subways,” “cement,” “flits”
    • Line 27: “flutters,” “silent”
    • Line 28: “fast,” “suit,” “swiftly”
    • Line 29: “Man-Moth”
    • Line 31: “gears,” “gradation”
    • Line 36: “does,” “dare”
    • Line 40: “must,” “mufflers”
    • Line 43: “haired horizon”
    • Line 45: “sting,” “slips”
    • Line 46: “palms,” “paying”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 10: “visits,” “surface”
    • Line 12: “sidewalks”
    • Line 13: “nervously,” “scale,” “faces”
    • Line 14: “small,” “sky”
    • Line 15: “sky,” “useless”
    • Line 17: “façades”
    • Line 18: “shadow,” “photographer’s”
    • Line 19: “fearfully”
    • Line 20: “push,” “small”
    • Line 26: “subways,” “cement,” “flits”
    • Line 27: “flutters,” “silent”
    • Line 28: “fast,” “enough,” “suit,” “swiftly”
    • Line 29: “Moth,” “seats,” “himself,” “facing”
    • Line 30: “starts,” “once,” “its,” “full,” “speed”
    • Line 45: “sting,” “slips”
    • Line 46: “Slyly”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “He does not see the moon; he observes only her vast properties”
    • Lines 11-12: “He emerges / from an opening under the edge of one of the sidewalks”
    • Line 14: “He thinks the moon is a small hole at the top of the sky”
    • Line 16: “He trembles, but must investigate as high as he can climb.”
    • Lines 26-27: “He flits, / he flutters”
    • Line 32: “He cannot tell the rate at which he travels backwards.”
    • Line 36: “He does not dare look out the window”
    • Lines 38-40: “He regards it as a disease / he has inherited the susceptibility to. He has to keep / his hands in his pockets”

• “The Man-Moth” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Battered
  • Inverted
  • Queer
  • Scale
  • Façades
  • Photographer's cloth
  • Scrolls
  • Flit
  • Gradation
  • Recurrent
  • Ties
  • Third rail
  • Draught
  • Susceptibility
  • Mufflers
  • Palms
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “cracks in the buildings are filled with battered moonlight.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Man-Moth”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Man-Moth” Speaker

• “The Man-Moth” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Man-Moth”

• More “The Man-Moth” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Elizabeth Bishop in Manhattan — Read more about Bishop's literary legacy in New York City.

    • New York in the 1930s and '40s — Learn more about the setting that inspired "The Man-Moth."

    • Elizabeth Bishop's Life and Work — A short biography of Bishop via the Poetry Foundation.

    • "The Man-Moth" Read Out Loud — Hear the poet Robert Pinsky read Bishop's "The Man-Moth."

    • Chasing the Man-Moth — One critic tries to track down the original misprint that inspired the poem.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Elizabeth Bishop

    • Crusoe in England

    • Filling Station

    • First Death in Nova Scotia

    • One Art

    • Sestina

    • The Fish

    • The Mountain

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