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.

I want a simpler life, without the hassle of being online. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit the life I want.

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.

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 M

Make an example of

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

Make an example of means to punish visibly to deter others from similar actions; thematically, it explores justice, fear, authority, and spectacle, highlighting power dynamics and the performative nature of punishment.

Detailed Definition
Make an example of means to punish, expose, or single out someone so that others will be warned or controlled. In poetry, the idiom is useful in political, school, religious, military, and family contexts where authority performs discipline. It turns an individual into a symbol, reducing a person to a lesson for others. A poet may use it to explore cruelty, spectacle, injustice, deterrence, and scapegoating. The phrase raises ethical questions about punishment that serves power rather than truth.
Example
Example in poetry:
A tyrant poem might show the king making an example of one rebel to frighten the rest; In a schoolroom poem, the stern master makes an example of the late pupil; The phrase means to punish one person as a warning to others; A poet can use it to reveal cruelty or authority.
Additional Notes
Make an example of means punish someone publicly so that others are warned. In poetry, the phrase can explore authority, scapegoating, discipline, cruelty, and spectacle. It suits school, military, legal, religious, political, or family contexts. Students should notice that the punished person is turned into a sign or lesson for others, reducing individuality to function. This makes the idiom powerful for poems about power and fear.
Also Known As
punish visibly
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