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 O

Oscillating tempo

Sound
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

Oscillating tempo describes rhythmic variation within a poem, shifting pace to mirror emotional flux, narrative tension, or thematic contrast.

Detailed Definition
Oscillating tempo refers to a deliberate and rhythmic fluctuation in the pace or speed of a poem’s delivery, achieved through varying line lengths, metrical patterns, punctuation, or syntactic structures to mirror emotional shifts, thematic tensions, or narrative dynamics; this technique can evoke the ebb and flow of thought or feeling—such as alternating between rapid, breathless clauses and languid, meditative pauses—to produce a dynamic auditory and psychological experience for the reader, as seen in free verse poems where the rhythm mimics heartbeat, breath, or natural cycles, thereby enhancing the poem’s expressive power and immersive quality.
Example
Example in poetry:
Oscillating tempo shifts speed within a poem; in “The Waste Land,” Eliot moves from slow elegy to rapid jazz; modern example: Danez Smith’s “alternate names for black boys” varies line length for emotional pacing; oscillating tempo mirrors psychological or narrative shifts; Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “No worst, there is none” accelerates then halts; this technique avoids monotony; it’s key to dramatic and free verse.
Additional Notes
Oscillating tempo alternates between fast and slow rhythms to mirror emotional or thematic shifts; effective in dramatic monologues—vary line length and punctuation to control pace.
Also Known As
Swinging tempo Alternating speed Variable pace Shifting rhythm
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