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 B

begirt

Archaic 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

Past tense of "begird," meaning to encircle, surround, or bind something around; to gird about or encompass.

Detailed Definition
"Begirt" is the past participle of "begird," which combines "be-" (around, about) with "gird" (to encircle, bind), meaning to surround or encircle something. The term appears in poetry describing landscapes encircled by natural features, cities surrounded by walls, or waists bound by belts or sashes. Its literal sense of encircling extended to metaphorical uses—dangers that begirt travelers, cares that begirt minds. Poets valued its compact expression of surrounding or encompassing, which could convey protection (walls begirt a city) or threat (enemies begirt a position). The word's archaic quality suited epic and formal verse where geographic or military descriptions required elevated language. Its monosyllabic force and clear imagery made it effective for creating vivid pictures of enclosure, boundary, and containment in narrative and descriptive poetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
The warrior begirt his waist with sword and shield; Knights begirt in armor rode forth to battle; "Begirt with steel" describes a soldier ready for combat; The castle walls begirt the ancient town completely; Poets describe heroes begirt with weapons of war; Mountains begirt the valley on all sides
Additional Notes
Begirt appears primarily in epic and romantic poetry, particularly in descriptions of siege warfare, magical encirclement, or symbolic binding. Spenser uses it in "The Faerie Queene" for both literal armor-girding and metaphorical spiritual preparation. The term suggests completeness of encirclement, distinguishing it from partial surrounding. Often appears in passive constructions: "begirt with enemies" or "begirt by walls." Related to "gird" and "girt" but emphasizes the completed action. Valuable for analyzing military imagery, descriptions of fortification, or metaphors of constraint and protection. The prefix "be-" intensifies the action of girding, suggesting thoroughness. Note the distinction from "begird" (to gird about) though often used synonymously in archaic texts.
Also Known As
encircle enshroud surround encompass
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