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

glaive

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 type of polearm with a blade attached to a pole; a sword or blade, especially in poetic or archaic usage referring to weapons.

Detailed Definition
"Glaive" derives from Old French "glaive" (sword), ultimately from Latin "gladius," referring to various bladed weapons, particularly polearms with swords or knives mounted on long shafts. Medieval and Renaissance poetry used it somewhat loosely for various weapons, valuing its archaic martial sound. The term appears in epic and romance where weapons required elevated nomenclature appropriate to heroic context. Knights bore glaives into battle, and poets employed the word when generic "sword" seemed too commonplace for poetic diction. Its Romance origin gave it courtly dignity distinguishing it from Germanic weapon vocabulary. The word's specific military-historical reference added authenticity to medieval settings while its poetic associations made it appropriate for elevated martial description. Later poets valued "glaive" specifically for its archaic quality, using it to evoke earlier periods and heroic traditions where specific weapon terminology contributed to atmospheric authenticity and epic dignity.
Example
Example in poetry:
The warrior wielded a mighty glaive in combat; "His glaive flashed in the morning sun"; A glaive is a pole weapon with a blade; Medieval soldiers carried glaives into battle; The guard's glaive barred entrance to the hall; Glaives combined reach with cutting power
Additional Notes
Glaive appears primarily in medieval romance, epic poetry, and historical writing describing medieval warfare. The term's imprecision (various polearms or swords) reflects medieval weapon terminology's flexibility. Poets often used "glaive" for metrical convenience or archaic effect rather than technical accuracy. Related to "sword," "blade," and specific polearm names. Essential for analyzing martial imagery, medieval military culture, and how literary texts represent weaponry. The term's romantic associations distinguish it from mundane "sword." Useful for discussing how literature aestheticizes violence through elevated vocabulary, the symbolic weight of named weapons, and whether authors understood actual medieval weaponry or used terms impressionistically. Spenser and medieval romances employ it for archaic flavor and martial atmosphere.
Also Known As
sword blade spear weapon
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