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 E

Embarrassment

Psychology
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

Self-conscious shame or awkwardness arising from social exposure.

Detailed Definition
Embarrassment in poetry appears through blushing, stammering, or awkward gestures, capturing vulnerability and social anxiety. Poets use it to humanize characters, reveal insecurities, or critique performative norms. It can be comic or poignant, often in dramatic monologues or intimate lyrics where the speaker's dignity crumbles, inviting readers to recognize shared frailties and the painful gap between self-perception and public judgment.
Example
Example in poetry:
Embarrassment in John Keats' odes on art portrays an embarrassed speaker; "POEM IN WHICH I'M EMBARRASSED" describes feeling embarrassed and ashamed as a grown woman; Guy Wetmore Carryl's "The Embarrassing Episode Of Little Miss Muffet" adopts a mock-heroic tone; John Herlihy's "Shame" links embarrassment to guilt and humiliation; "Embarrassed?" questions why one should be embarrassed; The poem "Ashamed" describes embarrassment as a tumultuous rush of sensations.
Additional Notes
Embarrassment in poetry appears through blushing, stammering, or awkward gestures, capturing vulnerability and social anxiety. Poets use it to humanize characters, reveal insecurities, or critique performative norms. In teaching, distinguish embarrassment from shame: embarrassment is a fleeting social awkwardness, while shame is a deeper sense of worthlessness. Embarrassment can be comic or poignant, often in dramatic monologues or intimate lyrics. Students should analyze how poets use ellipses, halting syntax, or self-deprecating humor to convey the painful gap between self-perception and public judgment.
Also Known As
Shame chagrin humiliation awkwardness self-consciousness Mortification
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