What is lit?

Famous quotes containing the word lit:

“Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: “I seek God! I seek God!””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

““Have no lit candles in your room,”
That love lady said,
“That I at midnight by the clock
May creep into your bed,
For if I saw myself creep in
I think I should drop dead.”
O my dear, O my dear.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

“In a room on the floor below,
Sunless, cooler—a brimming
Saucer of wax, marbly and dim—
I have lit what’s left of my life.”
—James Merrill (b. 1926)