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

braccio

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

An Italian unit of length varying by region but typically 23-28 inches; literally "arm," used for cloth and construction measurement.

Detailed Definition
The braccio (plural braccia), Italian for "arm," measured cloth and varied significantly by Italian city-state: Florentine braccio was about 58 centimeters (23 inches), Milanese braccio about 59.5 centimeters, Venetian braccio about 68 centimeters. This anthropometric measure was fundamental to Italian textile trade and architecture. In poetry concerning Italian Renaissance settings, cloth trade, or architectural description, braccio provides authentic cultural measurement. The term evokes Italian city-states, Renaissance commerce and art, and regional diversity. Poets employed braccia when treating Italian subjects, adding specific cultural detail and reflecting the decentralized nature of pre-unification Italian measurement systems.
Example
Example in poetry:
In translations of Dante or other Italian poetry, "ten braccia of finest Florentine silk" maintains cultural authenticity and historical accuracy; Poetry about Renaissance art might reference "the fresco measured twenty braccia high" to provide period-appropriate architectural description; In verse about Italian city-states, varying braccia measurements symbolize political fragmentation: "Milano's braccio differs from Firenze's—even measurement divides us"; Historical poetry about textile trade could describe "each city's merchants arguing their braccia" to show commercial complexity in pre-unification Italy; Modern poets exploring Italian heritage might write "measured by my grandfather's braccio, the old way, Sicilian not Roman"; Archaeological poetry about Pompeii or Roman sites might contrast "Roman feet give way to medieval braccia" to show cultural layering.
Additional Notes
The braccio's dramatic variation by Italian city-state (Florentine, Milanese, Venetian, etc.) makes it emblematic of pre-unification Italian fragmentation. Students should recognize that citing a specific city's braccio signals not just regional setting but also political and cultural identity. The term literally means "arm," connecting measurement to human body. Understanding braccio variations helps students appreciate how measurement standardization relates to political unification—Italy adopted the metric system only after achieving national unity. In Italian Renaissance poetry and art, the braccio appears in descriptions of paintings, sculptures, architecture, and textiles. Students translating Dante or other Italian poets should maintain "braccio" rather than converting to inches, preserving cultural specificity. The term appears extensively in Italian merchant letters, guild regulations, and artistic contracts. Related measurements include palmo (palm), piede (foot), and canna (cane/reed), all varying regionally. For students writing about Italian Renaissance or regional Italian contexts, using appropriate local braccio demonstrates attention to cultural and historical detail.
Also Known As
braccia
Skip to main content