"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."
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Man-Moth: Newspaper misprint for "mammoth."
Here, above, ...
... to the moon.
He does not ...
... record in thermometers.
But when the ...
... he can climb.
Up the façades, ...
... on the light.
(Man, standing below ...
... but quite unhurt.
Then he returns ...
... doors close swiftly.
The Man-Moth always ...
... he travels backwards.
Each night he ...
... his rushing brain.
He does not ...
... must wear mufflers.
If you catch ...
... up the eye.
Then from the ...
... enough to drink.
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.
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.