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

breeches

Apparel
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 garment covering the lower body from waist to knee or just below, worn by men in historical periods, often appearing in poetry to denote activity, class, and masculine practicality.

Detailed Definition
Breeches are frequently invoked in poetry set before the 19th century to describe the typical male lower garment, particularly in scenes of riding, fencing, or vigorous outdoor labor. Their fitted nature, often buttoned at the knee, allows for freedom of movement while also defining the leg line, making them a subject of both functional and aesthetic description. In satirical verse, ill-fitting or outmoded breeches can signal a character's social awkwardness or pretension. In military poetry, breeches are part of the uniform, their color and material matching the regiment. The transition from breeches to trousers in the early 19th century is sometimes noted in historical poetry as a marker of changing times. Their association with the lower half of the body also lends them to earthly, sometimes bawdy, imagery.
Example
Example in poetry:
"What is it our Mamma's bewitches, To plague us little Boys with Breeches?" (Mary Barber, "Written for my Son"); "Joy to Philip, he this day has his long coats cast away, and (the childish season gone) puts the manly breeches on" (Charles Lamb, "Going Into Breeches"); "From Vulpecide villains our foxes secure, may these evergreen Breeches till doomsday endure!" (Hunting Songs); "The breeches then back they will give them again, as by right they are theirs" (ballad); "His leather breeches creaked with every stride across the moor"; "The boy's first breeches marked his passage from petticoats to manhood"
Additional Notes
Breeches are frequently invoked in poetry set before the 19th century to describe typical male lower garments, particularly in scenes of riding, fencing, or vigorous outdoor labor. Their fitted nature, often buttoned at the knee, allows freedom of movement while defining the leg line, making them a subject of both functional and aesthetic description. In satirical verse, ill-fitting or outmoded breeches can signal social awkwardness or pretension. In military poetry, breeches are part of the uniform, their color and material matching the regiment. The transition from breeches to trousers in the early 19th century is sometimes noted in historical poetry as a marker of changing times. In children's poetry, "putting on breeches" marks the passage from boyhood to manhood. The word itself carries a certain robustness and old-fashioned charm. Related terms include hose, trousers, and leggings. Students should note that breeches are often described in terms of their material—leather, wool, or silk—and their fit, which can convey character and status.
Also Known As
knee pants short trousers riding britches
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