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.

After the death of my mother, 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.

My wife and I are simplifying our days. The server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit the quieter life we want.

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.

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

Cyrus the Great

Historical Figure
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

Founder of the Persian Empire, remembered for conquest, statecraft, and the liberation of the Jews from Babylonian exile.

Detailed Definition
Cyrus the Great appears in poetry as a ruler who unites imperial power with providential purpose. Biblical tradition presents him as an instrument of deliverance, while classical memory makes him a model of kingship and conquest. Poets use his name to evoke empire, tolerance, destiny, and the strange way political power can serve spiritual or historical renewal.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet might invoke Cyrus the Great as an image of conquest tempered by mercy; The Cyrus Cylinder can suggest justice, liberation, and imperial memory; A poem could contrast Cyrus’s empire with the freedom of an individual soul; His name may appear with Persia, Babylon, gates, and desert roads
Additional Notes
Cyrus the Great can be invoked as conqueror, liberator, lawgiver, or magnanimous ruler, especially because of his association with the return of the Jews from Babylonian exile. In poetry, his name may carry Persian imperial grandeur but also questions about mercy within power. Useful related ideas include empire, exile, decree, tolerance, Babylon, Jerusalem, and the ambiguous moral reputation of rulers.
Also Known As
Cyrus II Cyrus of Persia Kourosh Kurush Cyrus the Elder Cyrus
Skip to main content