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 C

Catalectic verse

Meter
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

Metrical lines that omit the final syllable (or syllables) of a standard foot, creating a truncated, abrupt, or syncopated rhythm.

Detailed Definition
Catalectic verse: Poetry in which one or more lines are "catalectic," meaning they are deficient in syllables or metrically incomplete. A catalectic line is typically missing its final metrical foot, resulting in a truncated, falling rhythm that can create a sense of finality, abruptness, or unresolved tension. For example, a line of iambic pentameter that ends on a stressed syllable instead of a full iambic foot would be considered catalectic. This is a common metrical variation in English poetry and is often used deliberately by poets to modulate rhythm and emphasize certain words or ideas. It is the opposite of "acatalectic" verse, where the lines are complete and full according to their metrical pattern. The use of catalectic lines demonstrates the flexibility of accentual-syllabic verse, allowing poets to deviate from strict regularity to achieve specific sonic and rhythmic effects.
Example
Example in poetry:
Catalectic verse: The nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” uses catalectic trochaic tetrameter—the final unstressed syllable is omitted, creating a truncated line: “Twin-kle, twin-kle, lit-tle star.”
Additional Notes
Catalectic verse: A metrical line missing one or more syllables at the end; creates rhythmic variation or abruptness—common in trochaic or dactylic meters (e.g., “Tyger Tyger” by Blake uses catalectic trochees).
Also Known As
Truncated verse Headless line Incomplete meter Shortened verse
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