大象传媒

Samira Ahmed celebrates the bright, airy pleasures of Midsummer.

"Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue."

The longest day of the year has been marked, especially in Northern climes, with bonfires, games and songs. Many of these rituals have faded over time but the sense of exhilaration of light and air and richness of the natural world still resonates. In literature this time of year is often an associated with magic and love: think of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. There's a sense of possibility and optimism that might extend us beyond the mundane and, in the poem from which the title of this programme is taken, Emily Dickinson describes it as a kind of spiritual intoxication.

The programme also includes readings from the work of Tove Jansson and RS Thomas as well as a new commission from the poet Jen Hadfield who sends us a postcard from the "Simmer Dim" of Shetland inspired, in part, by the Nikolai Astrup painting, V氓rnatt i hagen. It is the image used for this programme page and is provided by Kode Art Museums of Bergen (DAG FOSSE/KODE/SPAREBANKSTIFTELSEN DNB).

The readers are Samuel Barnett, Natasha Gordon and Jen Hadfield.

Producer: Natalie Steed
A Whistledown production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.