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midsummer

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

The middle of summer, especially the hottest part of the season.

Detailed Definition
In poetry, midsummer often suggests the height of heat, light, and fullness before decline begins. Here it helps set up the contrast between intense passion and the cooler, calmer stage that follows.
Example
Example in poetry:
Keats writes of “the coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,” in the abundance of early summer; “After the fierce midsummer all ablaze” presents the season at its hottest; “At midsummer, even midnight held / a little gold above the field”; A contemporary poem can use “midsummer heat” to frame drought, festival, or sleepless city nights
Additional Notes
The compound noun "midsummer" in the quoted line is a seasonal term, but it is still a specific literary word that some readers may pause over in this poetic contrast.; Found in the poem, Friendship After Love by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Other Meanings of “midsummer”
Also Known As
high summer solstice zenith peak Litha Summer Solstice
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