The whole shadow of Man is only as big as his hat.
Bishop carefully constructs the setting of the "Man-Moth" to seem frightening and surreal, although, read highly literally, she is in fact depicting what seems like an ordinary city populated with ordinary people. Indeed, the everyday "Man" she describes is depicted as more fantastical and elusive than the fantastical "Man-Moth." One way in which Bishop creates this effect is by ensuring that readers never quite perceive "Man" in his entirety. Instead, here, we see his shadow and his hat. Later, we see parts of him—his posture, his hands—but never this mysterious figure as a whole. In this way, the landscape becomes curiously lifeless and depopulated.
he climbs fearfully, thinking that this time he will manage
to push his small head through that round clean opening
and be forced through, as from a tube, in black scrolls on the light.
As he attempts again and again to scale the sides of the city's buildings in order to reach the moon, the Man-Moth displays a deep naiveté. Despite the fact that he fails to reach the moon, time after time, he remains determined. This determination is partly a product of fear, since the Man-Moth worries that the moon is dangerous. Yet this endlessly repetitive action seems just as much to be driven by an unstoppable, animalistic instinct (and, indeed, the figure of the Man-Moth is partly a reference to an insect). This passage also contains a suggestion that the character is a kind of artist, not merely because of his endless and difficult striving but because Bishop employs the metaphor of ink or paint being squeezed from a tube. Indeed, it is possible to understand the Man-Moth as an allegory for the artist, constantly seeking understanding and connection in a confusing world.
Just as the ties recur beneath his train, these underlie
his rushing brain.
Here, Bishop uses the intertwined tracks of the train as a simile to describe the intertwining, repetitive nature of the Man-Moth's dreams. By employing a figurative representation drawn so directly from the world of the poem—rather than reaching for something different, new, and thus possibly refreshing—Bishop intensifies the feeling of repetitive entrappedness that she is describing. Bishop also chooses to include a substantial amount of rhyme in these lines. This includes the internal rhyme "ties" and "underlie," as well as the rhymed "train" and "brain." This, too, creates a sense of dizzy repetition, once again disorienting the reader and creating a trapped, inescapable mood.
However, if you watch, he’ll hand it over,
cool as from underground springs and pure enough to drink.
In the poem's final lines, Bishop at least hints at freedom from the claustrophobia of the poem's landscape. She does so through simile, comparing the Man-Moth's tears to underground springs, and therefore evoking a world outside of the cramped urban setting of the rest of the poem. This glimpse of escape matches the actions described in these final lines. The speaker explains that the Man-Moth, observed by someone else, might share his tears with them. This description is cryptic and mysterious, but it nevertheless suggests a moment of emotional connection—even generosity—for a character marked by his loneliness, isolation, and sheer confusion.
