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 M

mock compliment

Device
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 rhetorical device in which insincere or exaggerated praise is used to subtly insult, undermine, or satirize the subject, often through irony or backhanded phrasing.

Detailed Definition
A mock compliment is seemingly positive language that actually insults or diminishes its target through irony, exaggeration, or contextual undermining. This rhetorical device appears to praise while communicating contempt, often highlighting flaws through excessive or inappropriate commendation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” uses mock compliment: praising landlords who eat children; Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” employs mock compliment to Belinda’s vanity; Contemporary poet Tracy K. Smith’s “The United States Welcomes You” uses mock compliment: “We mean to be the people we mean to be”; W.H. Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen” uses mock compliment through bureaucratic praise; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” uses mock compliment: “I used to pray to recover you”; Ocean Vuong’s “Aubade with Burning City” uses mock compliment by setting war elegy to disco song.
Additional Notes
A mock compliment appears to praise but actually ridicules, belittles, or exposes its subject through irony, sarcasm, exaggerated admiration, or strategically chosen details. The gap between literal wording and intended meaning creates the effect. Compare backhanded compliment, verbal irony, and satire. Study hint: look for praise that is implausible, excessive, or followed by damaging context; tone and audience knowledge determine whether readers hear the mockery.
Also Known As
Satirical compliment Ironic praise Backhanded flattery Mock tribute Diasyrm
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