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

gauntlets

Apparel
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

Protective gloves with a long, flared cuff extending over the forearm, made of leather or metal, worn by knights and falconers, symbolizing martial prowess and chivalric defense.

Detailed Definition
Gauntlets are the armored gloves of the medieval warrior, their overlapping steel plates protecting the hands and wrists in combat. In poetry, they appear in scenes of jousts, sieges, and hand-to-hand combat, often as part of a knight's full harness. The act of throwing down a gauntlet is a famous challenge to combat, and poets use this idiom to signal defiance or the beginning of a duel. Beyond armor, gauntlets are also worn by falconers and hunters, and their stout leather construction suggests a connection to the natural world of sport. In love poetry, a lady might wear delicate leather gauntlets for riding, their snug fit a point of romantic interest. Their protective function also lends them to metaphorical usage—the "gauntlet of life" or "running the gauntlet" of trials.
Example
Example in poetry:
"He threw down his gauntlet in challenge, the steel clattering on the stone"; "Her riding gauntlets were worn smooth by the reins of a hundred horses"; "The gauntlets' metal plates protected his hands but could not shield his heart"; "She pulled on her gauntlets and became a warrior in a silk gown"; "The gauntlets, lined with fur, were the only warmth in the frozen hall"; "He removed his gauntlets and revealed the scars of a life of combat"
Additional Notes
Gauntlets are the armored gloves of the medieval warrior, their overlapping steel plates protecting the hands and wrists in combat. In poetry, they appear in scenes of jousts, sieges, and hand-to-hand combat, often as part of a knight's full harness. The act of throwing down a gauntlet is a famous challenge to combat, and poets use this idiom to signal defiance or the beginning of a duel. Beyond armor, gauntlets are also worn by falconers and hunters, and their stout leather construction suggests a connection to the natural world of sport. In love poetry, a lady might wear delicate leather gauntlets for riding, their snug fit a point of romantic interest. Their protective function also lends them to metaphorical usage—the "gauntlet of life" or "running the gauntlet" of trials. Related terms include gloves, mitts, and vambraces. Students should note the gauntlet's association with both martial challenge and protection.
Also Known As
armored gloves knightly hand defenses steel mittens
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