"The Man-Moth" was first published in 1946, in Elizabeth Bishop's collection North and South. However, it was originally written roughly a decade prior, during the 1930s. This work is regarded as one of Bishop's stranger, more surreal poems. It describes a fictional creature, half-insect and half-man, who attempts but fails to reach the moon while inhabiting a sparse and unfriendly urban landscape. While the work lends itself to allegorical and metaphorical readings, it is suited to no single figurative interpretation. Rather, "The Man-Moth" can be read through various lenses as a portrait of modern urban disaffection, an ode to perseverance, or even a meditation on artistic failure and striving. Ultimately, its enigmatic and surreal elements both resist any single interpretation and constitute the basis of its appeal.
This poem consists of six eight-line stanzas. It does not follow a set rhyme scheme or meter, and Bishop employs widely varying line lengths, emphasizing the disjointedness of the protagonist's experience. To the extent that musical elements appear in this poem, they tend to do so in the form of assonance and alliteration rather than rhythmic uniformity. Through heavy use of figurative language, Bishop by turns further entrenches the poem's claustrophobic atmosphere and—particularly in the final lines—offers glimpses of freedom beyond it.
