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.

After the death of my mother, 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.

My wife and I are simplifying our days. The server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit the quieter life we 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 O

Over my dead body

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

Over my dead body|Idiomatic Phrase|An emphatic declaration of absolute refusal; indicates strong opposition to a proposal, suggesting one would rather die than allow it to happen.

Detailed Definition
Over my dead body means absolutely not, with refusal so strong that the speaker imagines death as the only condition under which the event could happen. In poetry, the idiom can be comic, heroic, melodramatic, or tragic. It suits scenes of protection, defiance, parental authority, political resistance, or possessive love. The phrase raises the stakes of refusal by making the body itself a barrier. Poets can use it to explore courage, stubbornness, sacrifice, and the theatre of absolute opposition.
Example
Example in poetry:
A melodramatic poem might have the old lord cry, over my dead body, before the runaway wedding; In political satire, a ruler says over my dead body to every reform the people need; The phrase means absolute refusal; A poet can use it for defiance, comedy, or stubborn authority.
Additional Notes
Over my dead body is a dramatic refusal, meaning only if the speaker is dead could the action happen. In poetry, it can be comic, heroic, melodramatic, or menacing. The phrase gives resistance bodily stakes, turning disagreement into imagined sacrifice. It suits family conflict, political defiance, protective love, and tragic vows. Students should consider whether the speaker’s intensity is noble courage or possessive obstruction.
Also Known As
When pigs fly
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