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 H

hide

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 Anglo-Saxon unit of land area, typically 60-120 acres, considered sufficient to support one household; used for taxation and land assessment.

Detailed Definition
The hide (Latin "hida"), fundamental to Anglo-Saxon land organization, measured enough arable land to support one free family and their dependents—varying from 60 to 120 acres depending on soil quality. Used for taxation, military assessment (providing one soldier), and social organization, the hide defined medieval English rural life. In poetry concerning Anglo-Saxon England, medieval agriculture, or feudal society, hides provide authentic historical measurement. The term emphasizes land's social function—not abstract area but livelihood and family support. Poets employed hides when exploring themes of possession, feudal obligation, social structure, and the relationship between land and community identity in medieval England.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Anglo-Saxon poetry and historical verse, "each thane received one hide of land for loyal service"; Medieval poetry might reference "the hide—enough to feed one family, the basic unit of English rural life"; In verse about Domesday Book, "William's clerks recorded every hide, quantifying conquest in ancient English measures"; Poetry exploring feudal obligations describes "one hide supports one household, one household provides one soldier"; Historical verse about taxation might reference "hidage—the hide's burden, measured in service and grain"; Modern poets writing about medieval history often invoke "the hide persists in place names: Hyde Park where medieval forests once sustained one family."
Additional Notes
The hide represents fundamental Anglo-Saxon land organization—enough arable land to support one free family and its dependents. Students should understand that hide varied by soil quality (60-120 acres), measuring productive capacity rather than abstract area. The term appears in Domesday Book and defines medieval English rural society. Understanding that hide determined taxation, military obligation (each hide owed one soldier), and social status helps students grasp its significance beyond mere measurement. In medieval historical poetry, hides represent feudal organization, family livelihood, and social structure. The hide's subdivisions (virgate, bovate/oxgang) show hierarchical land measurement reflecting social hierarchy. Students should recognize that hide measured not just land but social relationships—obligations between lord and tenant, community and crown. Related terms include virgate (1/4 hide), oxgang/bovate (1/8 hide), and carucate (equivalent to hide in Danelaw areas). For students writing about Anglo-Saxon or medieval English society, understanding hide measurement connects land to social organization, taxation to agricultural capacity, and abstract acres to family survival. The hide can represent feudal bonds, agricultural sustenance, or measurement as social control.
Also Known As
hide land virgate Lay low Sweep under the rug Skin
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