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.

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. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

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

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this 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.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

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

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter A

Assai

Musical Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

Assai is an Italian modifier meaning “very” or “much,” used to intensify tempo or dynamic markings, such as allegro assai for very fast.

Detailed Definition
Poets use assai to amplify descriptors of speed, intensity, or feeling, signaling heightened urgency or exaggeration in rhythmic or emotional delivery. In literature, it intensifies passages requiring emphatic expression, paralleling its role in music to push interpretive boundaries. Its value lies in precise modulation of poetic energy, allowing writers to fine-tune momentum without new terms. By borrowing this intensifier, verse gains nuanced gradation, evoking musical exactness in directing reader perception and underscoring poetry’s capacity for vivid, amplified sensory and affective experiences through subtle linguistic augmentation.
Example
Example in poetry:
The poet intensifies the tempo with assai to create very brisk pacing in the chase scene stanza.; Poets use assai to amplify dynamic markings, pushing the verse toward emphatic urgency.; In the ode, allegro assai drives the rhythm with much greater speed and vigor.; The assai modifier heightens the emotional volume, making the lament assai forte in delivery.; Like musical assai, the poem employs the term to fine-tune and exaggerate expressive force.; The poet labels the frantic section assai to signal very rapid, intense verbal flow.
Additional Notes
Assai acts as an intensifier meaning "very" or "much," amplifying tempo or dynamics like allegro assai for heightened urgency. Poetry benefits from assai to exaggerate expressive force without new terms, fine-tuning energy in passionate or rapid sections. Students learn precise modulation of momentum. Usage tip: apply assai to push boundaries in revisions for emphatic effect. Related to modifiers and dynamics, it promotes nuanced gradation; professors highlight Italian precision in directing reader perception, enriching understanding of amplified sensory experiences in verse.
Also Known As
very much extremely assai vivace
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