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 N

Narrative identity

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

Narrative identity is the idea that a person's self is constituted by the stories they tell about their life. Identity is a coherent narrative, not a fixed core.

Detailed Definition
Paul Ricoeur argues identity is a story. In poetry, this appears in the construction of a poetic persona or the exploration of autobiography. A poem becomes a fragment of a life story, shaping how we understand the self. This concept highlights poetry's role in self-creation and the exploration of life's coherence, as poets use narrative to give shape and meaning to their experiences.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem like "The Prelude" by William Wordsworth is a narrative of the poet's own life, constructing his identity through story; The collection of confessional poems by Sylvia Plath, such as "Ariel," can be read as fragments of a narrative identity, exploring a fractured self; A dramatic monologue like "Ulysses" by Tennyson constructs a narrative identity for a mythical character, exploring his heroic ambition; A poem in a persona, like those of Ai, creates a narrative identity for a historical or imagined figure.
Additional Notes
Narrative identity is the philosophical concept that a person's sense of self is constituted by the stories they tell about their life. As articulated by thinkers like Paul Ricoeur, identity is not a fixed, unchanging essence but a dynamic, narrative process. We understand ourselves and our lives as a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and an anticipated end. In poetry, this appears in the construction of a poetic persona, in autobiographical poems, or in poems that explore the act of memory and story-telling. A poem becomes a fragment of a life story, helping to shape and express the poet's identity. This concept highlights poetry's role in self-creation and exploration, showing how we use narrative to give order and meaning to our experiences.
Also Known As
Personal narrative Life story Self-constitution
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