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 F

fere

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 companion, comrade, or mate; also used to mean a spouse or partner, appearing frequently in medieval poetry and ballads.

Detailed Definition
"Fere" derives from Old English "gefera" (companion, comrade), meaning a fellow traveler, mate, or spouse. Medieval romances and ballads used it extensively when describing knights and their companions, lovers and their mates, or any paired individuals in fellowship. The term carries connotations of equality and voluntary association—feres were chosen companions rather than hierarchical subordinates. Poets valued its compactness and its associations with camaraderie, making it appropriate for martial, romantic, and social contexts where partnership mattered. Chaucer and contemporary poets employed "fere" when the relationship between characters required emphasis without specifying exact nature—friend, lover, or comrade. Its archaic quality made it essential for later poets seeking medieval atmosphere. The word's flexibility in denoting various equal relationships made it versatile for exploring themes of companionship, loyalty, and chosen bonds in narrative and lyric verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
The knight rode forth with his faithful fere; "My dear fere" addresses a beloved companion; Fere means companion, spouse, or mate; Warriors and their feres fought side by side; A true fere remains loyal in adversity; Medieval romances celebrate the bond between feres
Additional Notes
Fere appears throughout medieval and Renaissance poetry, particularly in ballads and romances, meaning companion or spouse. Chaucer employs it frequently for both married and unmarried partnerships. The term's flexibility (friend, mate, spouse) reflects fluid medieval concepts of companionate relationships. Related etymologically to "friend" and "dear" through Germanic roots. Essential for analyzing partnership representations, romantic and platonic bonds, and medieval social relationships. Often appears in formulaic phrases: "make one's fere," "fere in arms." Useful for discussing companionship themes, the representation of marriage as companionate versus hierarchical, and how medieval literature constructs various partnership forms. The term's obsolescence obscures this fluid companionship concept, as modern English separates "friend," "companion," and "spouse" more rigidly.
Also Known As
companion partner mate spouse
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