A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

After the death of my mother, the work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given.

My wife and I are simplifying our days. The server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit the quieter life we want.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard


Compare Poets

Pick two poets who seem to have nothing to do with each other — a Gothic American and a pastoral Englishman, say — and see where the catalogue actually joins them: overlapping years, shared ground, distinctive themes, and the poems that secretly rhyme.

Poet A

John Bartlet John Bartlet

Poet B

Thomas Greaves Thomas Greaves
Compare two related contemporaries

A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.

Kindred spirits
Their work already rhymes in the catalogue. The rest of this page is the story around that rhyme.
Biography 83% Blended 83%
Swap sides Another related pair
John Bartlet

John Bartlet

c. 1585 – c. 1620 (~35)
2 live poems · English

In the twilight years of the Elizabethan era, as the golden age of English poetry shimmered into the Jacobean dawn, a quiet but gifted composer emerged whose voice—though faint in the historical record—resonates with a rare and haunting beauty. John Bartlet, active roughly between 1585 and 1620, remains one of the most enigmatic figures of early English secular music. His life is shrouded in mystery, his dates approx…

“The poorness of my merit holds least proportion with the largeness of your grace, and my utmost desert can reach no further than humbly to acknowledge it.”

Neighbourhood: Lute-Song Composers, Renaissance Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Sorrow
Listen Timeline Affinities
Thomas Greaves

Thomas Greaves

c. 1575 – c. 1620 (~45)
1 live poem · English

In the twilight of the Elizabethan era, as the golden age of English poetry shimmered with the final glow of Spenser, Sidney, and Shakespeare, a quieter, more intimate voice emerged from the shadows of courtly patronage and cathedral choirs — that of Thomas Greaves. Though his life remains shrouded in mystery, his music, particularly his songs set to anonymous and likely contemporary poetry, survives as a luminous te…

Neighbourhood: Elizabethan Poets, Lute-Song Composers
Emotional landscape: Wonder, Irony, Longing
Listen Timeline Affinities

In time

John Bartlet
Thomas Greaves
1575 1620
They overlapped for 36 years (1585–1620). When John Bartlet was born, Thomas Greaves was about 10.
John Bartlet in history Thomas Greaves in history Years they were given

On the map

About 0 km separate London, England from London, England. Both have ground in London.

John Bartlet

Thomas Greaves

Open both on the History Atlas

Themes they return to

Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.

Shared

music

John Bartlet only

beloved lover pursuit love betrayal expectation

Thomas Greaves only

beauty breath rose life

From the biographies

elizabethan era john dowland music songs lute composer

John Bartlet: elizabethan era, jacobean dawn, a booke of ayres, thomas morley, john dowland, thomas campion, lute song, lyric poetry. Thomas Greaves: midlands, southern england, elizabethan era, john dowland, songs of sundrie kindes, sir john molyneux, sir henry willoughby, choirboy.

Poems that secretly rhyme

The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.

When from my love I looked for love
John Bartlet
72%
Compare
What is beauty
Thomas Greaves
Whither runeth my sweethart
John Bartlet
70% music
Compare
What is beauty
Thomas Greaves

The world around them

While their lives overlapped

Notable events from the years they were both alive.

1592 Imprisonment for Religious Activities
1595 Execution at Tyburn
1600 English East India Company Chartered
1600 William Gilbert publishes De Magnete and coins electricus
1603 Imprisonment in the Tower of London
1605 Cervantes Publishes Don Quixote Featuring the Windmill Combat Scene
1605 Publication of 'Don Quixote' Part I
1615 Cervantes publishes the second part of Don Quixote

John Bartlet

1600 Possible Training in Choral Tradition
1606 Publication of A Booke of Ayres
1610 Active in London’s Musical Scene
1610 Cultural Context of Early 17th Century England
1610 Influence of the Elizabethan Musical Tradition
1615 Collaboration with Contemporary Poets
1615 Participation in Musical Gatherings
1620 Legacy of Emotional Depth in Music

Thomas Greaves

1585 Possible Early Education of Thomas Greaves
1590 Influence of the Elizabethan Musical Scene
1600 Possible Residence in London
1604 Publication of 'Songs of Sundrie Kindes'
1610 Exploration of Themes in Poetry
1610 Friendship with Contemporary Poets
1615 Patronage by Noble Families
1619 Final Years of Artistic Activity

Emotional landscapes

John Bartlet: Longing, Tenderness, Sorrow. Thomas Greaves: Wonder, Irony, Longing.

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