Fireflies in the Garden
Fireflies in the Garden - context Summary
Published in 1942
Robert Frost's short poem was published in 1942 in the collection A Witness Tree. It contrasts real stars in the sky with fireflies on earth, treating the insects as earnest but temporary imitators of celestial light. The tone is quietly wry and observational: fireflies achieve a "star-like start" but cannot sustain it. The poem offers a compact meditation on scale, imitation, and transience—how small, lively things briefly approximate grandeur yet remain limited by their nature.
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