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Merriment

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Lively cheerfulness, laughter, and high-spirited festivity; a central theme in lighthearted, pastoral, and holiday verse.

Detailed Definition
In older literary usage, Merriment can be personified as a name-like abstraction, not just a general feeling. Keats capitalizes it here to give the line a playful, almost allegorical tone.
Example
Example in poetry:
Milton addresses “sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child,” while merriment in pastoral verse often includes song, dance, and communal ease; “The yard rang with merriment, paper plates, and brass-band weather” gives the noun a contemporary social scene; Herrick’s festive poems frequently join merriment to seasonal ritual and carpe diem pleasure; In elegy, remembered merriment can sharpen loss, as laughter becomes an absent sound
Additional Notes
Capitalized "Merriment" is used in a personified, literary way that may puzzle readers expecting only the ordinary noun.; Found in the poem, Robin Hood by John Keats
Also Known As
joy festivity cheerfulness gaiety spree
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