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 I

Iambic pentameter base

Meter
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

The standard metrical line of English poetry: five iambic feet per line (◡ – ×5), forming the backbone of sonnets, blank verse, and drama.

Detailed Definition
Iambic pentameter base refers to the foundational metrical pattern of English poetry: five iambic feet per line (da-DUM x5), totaling ten syllables with alternating unstressed and stressed beats. This rhythm mimics natural English speech while providing structural discipline, making it the backbone of blank verse, the Shakespearean sonnet, and much narrative poetry from Chaucer to contemporary verse. Mastery of iambic pentameter involves recognizing and deploying variations—spondees, trochees, pyrrhics—to add emphasis, avoid monotony, and reflect emotional nuance. As the default “elevated” meter in English, it remains essential for understanding poetic tradition, dramatic verse, and the interplay between form and meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate; When I have fears that I may cease to be / Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain; Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments; To be, or not to be—that is the question: / Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer; The quality of mercy is not strained. / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Additional Notes
Iambic pentameter base is the foundational rhythm of English blank verse and sonnets: five iambic feet per line (da-DUM x5). It mimics natural speech while providing structure. Students should practice scansion to identify variations (spondees, trochees) that add emphasis. Mastery of this meter is essential for understanding Shakespeare, Milton, and much canonical poetry.
Also Known As
heroic line foundation blank verse backbone decasyllabic norm 10-syllable verse
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