The Man-moth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGH IJKLMNOP QRSTBUVW XXXYZA2B2X C2XNVOXD2X RE2XXXOF2G2nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Here above | A |
cracks in the buldings are filled with battered moonlight | B |
The whole shadow of Man is only as big as his hat | C |
It lies at his feet like a circle for a doll to stand on | D |
and he makes an inverted pin the point magnetized to the moon | E |
He does not see the moon he observes only her vast properties | F |
feeling the queer light on his hands neither warm nor cold | G |
of a temperature impossible to records in thermometers | H |
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nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp But when the Man Moth | I |
pays his rare although occasional visits to the surface | J |
the moon looks rather different to him He emerges | K |
from an opening under the edge of one of the sidewalks | L |
and nervously begins to scale the faces of the buildings | M |
He thinks the moon is a small hole at the top of the sky | N |
proving the sky quite useless for protection | O |
He trembles but must investigate as high as he can climb | P |
- | |
nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Up the fa ades | Q |
his shadow dragging like a photographer's cloth behind him | R |
he climbs fearfully thinking that this time he will manage | S |
to push his small head through that round clean opening | T |
and be forced through as from a tube in black scrolls on the light | B |
Man standing below him has no such illusions | U |
But what the Man Moth fears most he must do although | V |
he fails of course and falls back scared but quite unhurt | W |
- | |
nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Then he returns | X |
to the pale subways of cement he calls his home He flits | X |
he flutters and cannot get aboard the silent trains | X |
fast enough to suit him The doors close swiftly | Y |
The Man Moth always seats himself facing the wrong way | Z |
and the train starts at once at its full terrible speed | A2 |
without a shift in gears or a gradation of any sort | B2 |
He cannot tell the rate at which he travels backwards | X |
- | |
nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Each night he must | C2 |
be carried through artificial tunnels and dream recurrent dreams | X |
Just as the ties recur beneath his train these underlie | N |
his rushing brain He does not dare look out the window | V |
for the third rail the unbroken draught of poison | O |
runs there beside him He regards it as a disease | X |
he has inherited the susceptibility to He has to keep | D2 |
his hands in his pockets as others must wear mufflers | X |
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nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp If you catch him | R |
hold up a flashlight to his eye It's all dark pupil | E2 |
an entire night itself whose haired horizon tightens | X |
as he stares back and closes up the eye Then from the lids | X |
one tear his only possession like the bee's sting slips | X |
Slyly he palms it and if you're not paying attention | O |
he'll swallow it However if you watch he'll hand it over | F2 |
cool as from underground springs and pure enough to drink | G2 |
Elizabeth Bishop
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