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

Irritation

Psychology
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 state of mild, often fleeting annoyance or resentment; in poetry, it captures a character's petulance, the friction of daily life, or a minor emotional disturbance that prefigures stronger feeling.

Detailed Definition
Irritation in poetry captures petty grievances, frayed nerves, and daily frictions—stale air, scratching sounds, repeated questions. Poets use it to build tension or comedy, often in dramatic monologues or domestic scenes. Irritation reveals character flaws and relational strain, and can escalate into rage or despair. It grounds poetry in the mundane, making emotional life accessible and reminding readers that small triggers often carry larger meanings.
Example
Example in poetry:
Irritation in John Berryman's "Dream Song 14" expresses irritation with life; In Philip Larkin's poetry, irritation often appears in domestic settings; The poem "Irritation" captures petty grievances; In dramatic monologues, irritation reveals character flaws; Contemporary confessional poetry uses irritation to explore daily frictions; In "This Be The Verse," Larkin's irritation with family is palpable.
Additional Notes
Irritation in poetry captures petty grievances, frayed nerves, and daily frictions—stale air, scratching sounds, repeated questions—through mild annoyance that can escalate. In teaching, distinguish irritation from anger: irritation is mild vexation, while anger is more intense. Poets use irritation to build tension or comedy, often in dramatic monologues or domestic scenes. It reveals character flaws and relational strain. Students should examine how poets use repetition of small annoyances, clipped syntax, and domestic imagery to convey irritation's cumulative, grating quality.
Also Known As
Annoyance frustration vexation exasperation aggravation gall Inflammation Soreness
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