"Fireflies in the Garden" by Robert Frost

Robert Frost was an early twentieth century American poet. He is regarded as one of the most influential poets of his time and has won several awards including four Pulitzer Prizes. Frost frequently focused on rural life in America and displayed this throughout most of his works in his colloquial language.

Fireflies in the Garden

BY ROBERT FROST

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

In "Fireflies in the Garden," Frost compares the light of a firefly to that of a star. The speaker states that the fireflies are capable of achieving "a very star-like start," although they are so small in reality. The perspective of the viewer sees the two as the same until the fly "can't sustain the part." Frost uses the fireflies as a metaphor to humanity and the stars to the universe in that humanity pales in comparison to the size of the universe, but our flashes of brilliance can make it seem as if we are significant enough to make an impact in more that just our immediate vicinity. In being like the fireflies, however, humanity tricks itself into thinking that it is more important than it really is. In the grand scheme of the universe, humanity is nothing but a small piece of dust that could be blow away without even being noticed. In our achievements, humanity becomes "star-like" for a moment as someone can truly believe that what they do matters, but in truth, that moment will burn out as we "can't sustain the part," in order to make a real impact. We are secluded in our little world with so much out of reach, but as long as we can continue to pass on the "star-like" quality, humanity can live on. Other people can look to the stars to see what lies beyond and accept our role, or fool ourselves into thinking that we are more important than anything that lies in the infinite universe. Either way, the fact remains that we will "never equal the stars in size" and never will.