“The Man-Moth” Introduction

• 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