Indian summer

Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. The US National Weather Service defines this as weather conditions that are sunny and clear with above normal temperatures, occurring late-September to mid-November. It is usually described as occurring after a killing frost.

Etymology and usage

Late-19th century Boston lexicographer Albert Matthews made an exhaustive search of early American literature in an attempt to discover who coined the expression. The earliest reference he found dated from 1778, but from the context it was clearly already in widespread use. William R. Deedler (historian for National Weather Service) in a 1996 essay wrote that Matthews' 1778 reference was a letter by Frechman St. John de Crevecoeur.

Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, it was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans (incorrectly labelled "Indians"), or because the Native Americans first described it to Europeans, or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when native Americans hunted. The title of Van Wyck Brooks' New England: Indian Summer (1940) suggests inconsistency, infertility, and depleted capabilities, a period of seemingly robust strength that is only an imitation of an earlier season of actual strength.

Indian Summer (poem)

Indian Summer is a popular English poem by celebrated Indian poet Jayanta Mahapatra. The poem is widely anthologised in important poetry collections and is used as standard reading material in the English syllabus of most Indian schools, colleges and universities. The poem was originally a part of his collection "A Rain of Rites".

Excerpts from the poem

Structure and criticism

The poem is remarkable for clear and exact imagery, judicious choice of words and compactness. The diction has a deceptive simplicity.

Although the poem describes a typical Indian summer, many critics have commented that the poem is a veiled commentary on the "suffering woman". Some others have commented that it was one of the amateur poems of Mahapatra despite the original poetic sensibility.".

See also

Notes

Indian Summer (manga)

Indian Summer (Japanese: こはるびより, Hepburn: Koharu Biyori) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Takehito Mizuki. The manga was serialised in MediaWorks's monthly Dengeki Daioh before MediaWorks moved the title to the quarterly Dengeki Moeoh. The manga is licensed in English by ComicsOne.

Characters