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 P

pivotal balance

Structure
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

An organizing pattern that emphasizes symmetry around a midpoint

Detailed Definition
Pivotal balance describes the precise equilibrium achieved when a poem’s turning point—its volta or pivot—is perfectly weighted against preceding and following sections, creating structural and thematic harmony; this balance ensures that the shift feels both surprising and inevitable, central to the success of sonnets and dialectical lyrics.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem that uses structural symmetry (e.g., chiastic structure) where the first half is mirrored by the second half to achieve balance; A couplet that achieves a pivotal balance by placing two opposing ideas or images on either side of the caesura or line break; A line with equal stress patterns on either side of a strong medial caesura; A poem where the emotional intensity or rhetorical question in the first stanza is perfectly answered or resolved in the final stanza.
Additional Notes
pivotal balance: A sense of equilibrium achieved in a poem after a significant pivot or turn; the two halves of the poem (before and after the pivot) are thematically or structurally balanced.
Also Known As
turning balance central balance hinge symmetry Axial symmetry
Skip to main content