Summary
The poem begins with a subtitle, explaining that the phrase "Man-Moth" was inspired by a newspaper that mistakenly printed the word "Mammoth" as "Man-Moth."
Next, the poem launches into a description of ordinary Man. He stands in a dilapidated urban landscape among moonlit buildings. His shadow, lying at his feet, is no wider than his hat, and he points up toward the moon like an inverted pin. He doesn't see the moon but senses it indirectly, through things like the light it casts on his hands, which is neither cold nor hot—it has a temperature that cannot be measured. The moon looks different to the Man-Moth. He doesn't come to the world's surface often, but when he does he creeps out from an opening under the sidewalks. Then he starts to climb the side of the city's buildings in order to reach the moon. He does this to investigate the moon, which he thinks is a hole in the sky. This worries him, since it would mean that the sky isn't sufficiently protective, and so in spite of his fear he tries to reach the moon.
He climbs up the buildings with his shadow trailing behind him, sure that he will succeed in reaching the moon, although he always fails. He thinks that he'll be able to poke his head through the hole in the sky—which is to say, the moon—emerging like a black substance being squeezed from a tube onto a light background. Below him on the ground, ordinary Man doesn't think about any of this. Though he's afraid, the Man-Moth continues his climb. Nevertheless, he falls back down every time, failing his mission but uninjured.
Analysis
While this poem conveys intense loneliness and takes place in a strange, bleak setting, this bleakness is somewhat offset by Bishop's explanatory epigraph. By giving readers insight into the imaginative genesis of the "Man-Moth," explaining that the figure was born from a situation as trivial as a mere newspaper misprint, Bishop lends the work a comedic tone. The poem is in a way an extended imaginative riff, a thought exercise. This humorousness contrasts with the sad tone of the poem as a whole, creating a characteristic contrast: the work is at once a joke and an immersive, somber narrative. Moreover, the contrast between the implied image of a mammoth—associated with size, strength, and invulnerability—sits in contrast with the flitting, fearful, half-human, half-moth creature Bishop describes. This contrast is at once poignant and funny.
Just as this poem resists straightforward tonal characterization, it resists straightforwardly allegorical or symbolic readings. The Man-Moth is characterized by his instinctive, unceasing insistence on climbing to the moon to investigate it, in spite of his inevitable failure. There are numerous possible lenses through which to understand this, none of which are mutually exclusive or definitive. For instance, Bishop's chronicles of the Man-Moth are clearly rooted in real observations of the natural world, specifically the habits and movements of moths: one way to view this poem is an exercise in visual imagination, with Bishop attempting to vividly and precisely evoke the actions of an imaginary creature inspired by a real animal. At the same time, the Man-Moth's seeking can be understood as existential or spiritual. He is driven, uncontrollably, to seek out an understanding of something that defies comprehension, and that is both alluring and frightening. Another potential way to understand the Man-Moth is as an artist or writer. Bishop explains that he hopes to poke his head through the moon, resembling a black substance being squeezed out of a tube into the light. The evocation of writing or images on a page or canvas suggests that the Man-Moth's constant, futile seeking resembles that of the artist, attempting over and over again to understand the world around them through creative expression but never quite achieving a satisfying result.
In any case, the Man-Moth displays a simultaneously impressive and pitiable inability to accept the world around him as it is. In contrast to ordinary Man, who, in Bishop's description, doesn't look at the moon at all, the Man-Moth is hyperaware of his surroundings and feels an urgent need to engage with and explore them. This makes him curiously pathetic and invincible at the same time. His endless, fearful, failed search for the moon is an instance of vulnerability, but his ability to continue this search when the people around him seem completely unaware of their surroundings exemplifies a certain strength.
