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 G

garth

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

An enclosed yard or garden, especially one surrounded by a cloister; a courtyard or small enclosed piece of ground.

Detailed Definition
"Garth" derives from Old Norse "garðr" (yard, garden), referring to enclosed yards, gardens, or courtyards, particularly the garden space surrounded by monastery cloisters. The term appears in poetry depicting medieval settings, religious houses, or enclosed domestic spaces. Its specificity—not just any garden but specifically an enclosed one—made it useful for precise architectural and spatial description. Poets valued it for creating authentic medieval atmosphere and for its associations with contemplative space, protected enclosure, and the intersection of nature and architecture. The monastic garth particularly symbolized retreat, meditation, and bounded sacred space. The word's Norse origin gave it Northern English and Scottish associations useful for regional authenticity. Its archaic quality suited historical and religious verse requiring accurate period terminology for architectural and landscape features that shaped medieval life and contemplative practice.
Example
Example in poetry:
The horses were stabled in the castle garth; "Within the garth grew herbs and flowers"; Garth means an enclosed yard or garden; The monastery garth provided peaceful meditation; Children played within the protected garth; The garth was surrounded by stone walls
Additional Notes
Garth appears primarily in descriptions of monastic architecture, medieval settings, and pastoral enclosed spaces. The term suggests protected, cultivated space within larger wilderness or architectural complex. Related to "garden" and "yard" etymologically, but more specific to cloistered or enclosed contexts. Medieval and Victorian medievalizing poetry employ it for atmospheric specificity. Essential for analyzing spatial organization in literature, particularly sacred versus profane space, enclosed versus open landscapes, and architectural terminology. The term's specificity distinguishes it from general "courtyard," suggesting either monastic context or deliberately archaic vocabulary. Useful for discussing how literature represents bounded spaces, the symbolism of enclosed gardens, and medieval spatial organization where garths served as transitional zones between building and world.
Also Known As
yard enclosure garden courtyard
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