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

erstwhile

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

Erstwhile means former or in the past, referring to something that once was but no longer is.

Detailed Definition
Erstwhile, meaning "formerly," is favored in nostalgic or elegiac poetry to mark temporal distance. It appears in works contemplating lost love, faded glory, or changing landscapes. Poets value its concise elegance for contrasting present reality with idealized history, enriching themes of transience and memory with a refined, literary tone.
Example
Example in poetry:
Erstwhile lovers now walk separate paths.; The glory erstwhile known has faded into myth.; Erstwhile the land was green and full of song.; In erstwhile days, the bards told tales of wonder.; Erstwhile friends gather no more at the old hall.; The castle, erstwhile grand, now stands in ruin.
Additional Notes
Notes on erstwhile: Meaning "formerly," erstwhile marks temporal contrast, perfect for elegiac or nostalgic poetry reflecting on lost glory or changed circumstances. Its concise elegance fits reflective verse by Romantic and modernist poets seeking historical resonance. Tip for students: pair with present-tense descriptions for sharp juxtaposition. Related to "aforetime" and "whilom," it offers stylistic variety. In university settings, analyze its role in memory poems or post-colonial reflections on past empires. It encourages precise diction while maintaining meter, helping learners experiment with time shifts that reveal character growth or societal change through layered temporal awareness in their compositions.
Also Known As
former erst
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