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.

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 H

Hammer and tongs

Idiomatic Phrase
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 idiomatic phrase meaning with great energy, vigor, or intensity; derived from blacksmithing imagery, it evokes forceful action in poetry and suggests relentless effort or passionate engagement through metaphorical resonance.

Detailed Definition
Hammer and tongs means with great energy, force, noise, or intensity, especially in argument, work, or conflict. In poetry, the idiom brings blacksmithing imagery into human action: sparks, metal, blows, heat, and shaping force. It can describe lovers quarrelling, workers labouring, politicians debating, storms raging, or artists making. The phrase suggests vigorous engagement rather than delicate movement. Poets can use it to celebrate creative force or to show conflict becoming harsh, repetitive, and physically exhausting.
Example
Example in poetry:
A battle poem may show rivals going at it hammer and tongs; In a comic domestic verse, two cooks argue hammer and tongs over soup; The phrase can suggest energetic conflict; A poet might use it for fierce debate, hard labour, or clanging weather.
Additional Notes
Hammer and tongs means with great energy, force, or intensity, originally evoking the blacksmith’s tools. In poetry, the phrase is sonically and visually strong: metal, sparks, heat, rhythm, and labour are implied. It can describe arguments, work, storms, music, or creative effort. Students should note its craft associations, especially where poetry itself is imagined as something forged by repeated blows.
Also Known As
vigorously
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