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 R

rithim

Dialect
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

The Irish adaptation of the word rhythm, used in literary and poetic discourse to discuss the patterns of stress, syllable, and melody that govern verse composition in both Irish and English poetic traditions.

Detailed Definition
Rithim entered Irish literary vocabulary as the native tradition encountered European poetic theory, and it is now standard in Irish-language critical discussion of verse. Its use in poetry criticism reflects the long dialogue between the indigenous Irish metrical tradition — rooted in syllable-count and sound-patterning — and the stress-based rhythms of English and Continental verse that increasingly influenced Irish poets from the seventeenth century onward. For bilingual poets working between Irish and English, rithim serves as a neutral term that allows discussion of metre and musical movement without privileging either tradition, though the Irish ear for assonance and internal rhyme always inflects what rithim means in practice.
Example
Example in poetry:
Rithim provides temporal structure organizing poetic language; The rithim of Irish poetry differs significantly from English metrical patterns; Poets manipulate rithim to create desired emotional effects in listeners; The rithim connects Irish verse to traditional musical forms; Understanding rithim requires attention to syllable weight and placement; Contemporary poets experiment with rithim while respecting traditional foundations.
Additional Notes
Rithim (rhythm) in Irish poetry refers to the patterns of stress and syllable that organize verse. It differs from English metre, relying more on accentual patterns. Poets manipulate rithim to create musicality and emphasis. Understanding rithim is crucial for scanning Irish verse and appreciating its sonic qualities. It connects poetry to music and dance, reflecting the holistic nature of Gaelic art. Rithim is the heartbeat of the poem, driving its forward motion and emotional resonance.
Also Known As
rhythm meter cadence beat
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