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 L

Langue

Philosophy
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

Langue refers to the abstract, systematic structure of a language. It is the shared set of rules and conventions that enables communication, distinct from individual speech acts.

Detailed Definition
Ferdinand de Saussure's distinction places langue as the social system. In poetry, poets work within and against this system, exploiting its rules for aesthetic effect. The poet's art lies in manipulating the potential of langue, using syntax, grammar, and the lexicon to create new meanings. This focus on structure reveals poetry as a conscious engagement with the very material of language.
Example
Example in poetry:
The sonnet form, with its fixed structure, is an example of langue, the shared system of poetic rules; The rules of grammar and syntax that a poet must follow are part of the langue of poetry; The system of meter, such as iambic pentameter, is a fundamental part of the langue of English poetry; The lexicon of poetic imagery, such as the "rose" for love, is a part of the langue that a poet draws upon.
Additional Notes
Langue, in Ferdinand de Saussure's structural linguistics, is the abstract, systematic structure of a language. It is the entire set of rules and conventions (grammar, syntax, vocabulary) that is shared by a linguistic community and makes communication possible. It is the social, collective system of signs, as opposed to "parole," which is the individual act of speech. In poetry, langue is the material the poet works with. The poet's art lies in manipulating this system for aesthetic effect, using its rules to create beauty, meaning, and surprise. A poet who breaks the rules of grammar is still working in relation to the langue. For poetry students, understanding this distinction helps analyze how poets use and subvert the structure of language to create their unique effects.
Also Known As
Linguistic system Language structure Code
Skip to main content