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

Asteismus

Rhetorical Devices
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

A courteous or playful form of mockery that sounds like praise. It gently criticizes through wit and apparent compliment.

Detailed Definition
Asteismus is refined teasing in which a speaker’s seeming admiration contains a humorous criticism. A poem might praise a miser’s “heroic devotion to every coin” or admire a vain figure’s “generosity in sharing mirrors with the world.” Because the mockery is softened by elegance or charm, the device can entertain without becoming openly hostile. It is useful for social satire, affectionate banter, and speakers whose criticism depends on tact rather than direct attack.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Your singing is so powerful that even the cats flee in admiration” appears to praise while gently mocking poor singing; “You are a true prince of punctuality,” says the speaker to a friend who arrives an hour late; “Such a delicate dancer,” the poem says of someone crashing through chairs; “Your handwriting is wonderfully mysterious, like an ancient ruined map” offers teasing praise for illegibility
Additional Notes
Asteismus delivers criticism in the manner of a compliment. Its playful politeness can make mockery less harsh, though context may reveal a sharper edge. It differs from direct sarcasm because it preserves an appearance of graciousness.
Also Known As
Urbanity Witty Irony
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