I recently began sharing V2Melody on Bluesky, Mastodon and X.

One of the first questions I was asked was wonderfully simple.

"Do you think he would have liked these musical versions?"

I smiled when I read it, because it is a question I have quietly asked myself ever since I began this project.

The truthful answer is that none of us can know.

Poets are as varied in death as they were in life. Some might have embraced these musical interpretations with delight. Others might have preferred every poem to remain exactly as it first appeared on the printed page.

But I have my suspicions.

Many poems were originally written to be heard rather than silently read. Some were explicitly called songs. Others were intended to be spoken aloud before audiences. Long before printing presses and anthologies, poetry belonged to the human voice.

Music and poetry have always been close companions.

Many of the most famous poets saw their words set to music during their own lifetimes. Others never had that opportunity, not because their poems lacked musicality, but simply because composers could only devote their time to a tiny fraction of the poetry being written.

Today that has changed.

For the first time, it has become possible for one person to explore thousands of musical interpretations that would once have required an orchestra of composers, singers and musicians.

That possibility fascinates me.

When I begin working on a poem, I often find myself imagining its poet somewhere nearby.

Not haunting me in any alarming sense, I should add.

More like standing quietly over my shoulder with folded arms, wondering what I am going to do with their words.

I imagine them listening patiently while I reject one musical idea after another.

"No," I can almost hear them saying. "Not that one."

Occasionally a version appears that feels right.

Whether it is a folk ballad, a jazz trio, an orchestral setting or something entirely unexpected, there are moments when the music suddenly seems to belong to the poem rather than merely accompany it.

Those are the versions that find their way onto V2Melody.

Do I believe the poets would all have approved?

Probably not.

Poets have never agreed with one another about very much.

But I do hope they would have recognised something more important than the music itself.

Respect.

Every musical setting begins with reading the poem carefully, trying to understand its emotional journey, its imagery, its rhythm and its voice. The music is never intended to replace the poem or improve upon it.

It is simply another way of inviting someone to listen.

Perhaps that is what I hope the poets would appreciate.

Not that I have found the definitive way to hear their words.

Only that I have spent time listening to them first.

And if, somewhere beyond our hearing, a few of them are quietly smiling while I work...

Well, I like to think so.