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

cullion

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

A base, despicable person; a rascal or villain; originally a vulgar term with anatomical references, used as a strong insult.

Detailed Definition
"Cullion" derives from French "couillon," literally referring to testicles, and functioned as a coarse insult meaning a vile, contemptible person. In Renaissance drama and poetry, it served as one of many colorful epithets characters hurled at enemies or inferiors. Shakespeare employed such terms to characterize speakers and establish social dynamics—who could insult whom and how revealed power relationships. The word's vulgar origins gave it particular force, though its literal meaning was often obscured by time and context. Poets writing in elevated registers might avoid "cullion," while those depicting low comedy or street conflict embraced it for authenticity and impact. Such insults enriched the vocabulary of invective essential to dramatic confrontation and satirical verse, where creative name-calling demonstrated wit and verbal prowess.
Example
Example in poetry:
Begone, you cowardly cullion, you knave!; The insult cullion appears in heated poetic exchanges; "Base cullion" was a term of contempt; The angry soldier called his deserting comrade a cullion; Cullion denoted a despicable, worthless person; Medieval invective employed cullion freely
Additional Notes
Cullion appears in Renaissance drama as particularly virulent insult, originally referencing male anatomy (testicles) before evolving into generalized contempt. Shakespeare and his contemporaries use it for characters deemed utterly despicable. The term's anatomical origin adds visceral force to its invective function. Related to "rogue," "varlet," and "knave" but more obscene in origin. Essential for analyzing the language of insult, bodily imagery in vituperation, and how literature represents masculine contempt. The term's obsolescence reflects linguistic decorum shifts. Useful for discussing how body-based insults construct degradation and the relationship between anatomical reference and social contempt. Its presence typically signals extreme verbal aggression between male characters or in contexts permitting coarse language.
Also Known As
scoundrel wretch villain rascal
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