Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Firefly
Before, beside us, and above
The firefly lights his lamp of love.
Bishop Heber—Tour Through Ceylon.
Is it where the flow’r of the orange blows,
And the fireflies dance thro’ the myrtle boughs?
Mrs. Hemans—The Better Land.
And the fireflies, Wah-wah-taysee,
Waved their torches to mislead him.
Longfellow—Hiawatha.
The fireflies o’er the meadow
In pulses come and go.
Lowell—Midnight. St. 3.
Tiny Salmoneus of the air
His mimic bolts the firefly threw.
Lowell—The Lesson.
Now, motionless and dark, eluded search
Self-shrouded: and anon, starring the sky,
Rose like a shower of fire.
Southey—Madoc. Pt. II. (Confounds the firefly with the lantern-fly.)
Many a night I saw the Pleiads rising thro’ the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid.
Tennyson—Locksley Hall. 9.