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.

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

Circumlocution

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

Circumlocution is the use of an indirect, roundabout expression instead of a simple, direct name or statement. It can delay meaning, soften an idea, or create an elevated and elaborate style.

Detailed Definition
Circumlocution replaces a direct word or statement with a longer, indirect description, often requiring the reader to infer the intended meaning. In poetry, it may lend dignity, mystery, irony, or comic excess to a subject, as when a speaker describes dawn as “the opener of the eastern gate” rather than simply saying morning. Poets use it to control pace, avoid bluntness, sustain a formal voice, or make familiar objects seem strange and newly perceived. Its deliberate detour can also reveal a speaker's hesitation, politeness, evasiveness, or emotional difficulty.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The orb that rules the day” instead of “the sun”; “The silver wanderer of night” instead of “the moon”; “She entered the house where books sleep in rows” instead of “the library”; “The singer of dawn” instead of “the rooster”
Additional Notes
Circumlocution can create mystery, politeness, comedy, or elevated tone by making readers approach an idea indirectly. In poetry, it may delay a name for emotional effect, but excessive roundabout phrasing can weaken clarity. Compare euphemism, which specifically softens a difficult subject.
Other Meanings of “Circumlocution”
Also Known As
Roundabout Expression Indirect Phrasing Ambages
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