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

rundlet

Archaic Terms
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 English unit of liquid capacity equal to approximately 18 gallons, or about 68 liters; a small cask for wine or spirits.

Detailed Definition
The rundlet, small cask measuring roughly 18 wine gallons (about 68 liters), served for wine, spirits, and other liquids in contexts where smaller quantities were needed. The rundlet's modest size made it suitable for household use or small-scale trade. In poetry concerning domestic life, wine consumption, or modest commercial transactions, rundlet provides authentic small-scale measurement. The term evokes household economy, personal consumption, and the gradations of cask sizes in traditional commerce. Poets employed rundlets when treating everyday domestic contexts rather than large-scale commerce, grounding descriptions in the material culture of household provisioning and personal consumption.
Example
Example in poetry:
In poetry about wine trade, "a rundlet of sherry for the season" suggests modest but quality consumption; Historical verse about household provisioning might reference "they laid in two rundlets of port, calculating winter's entertainment"; Poetry about tavern supply describes "rundlets of brandy behind the bar, smaller casks for spirits sold by the glass"; In verse about moderation, "a rundlet—neither excessive like a butt nor stingy like a bottle, but sufficient"; Modern poets writing about drinking culture might contrast "grandfather bought wine by the rundlet; I buy bottles—scale of hospitality diminished"; Poetry about traditional commerce uses "from rundlets to barrels to tuns, each commodity had its proper cask."
Additional Notes
The rundlet's modest size (approximately 18 gallons) makes it household-scale cask suitable for personal wine storage. Students should understand that rundlet represents smallest cask in wine/spirits hierarchy above bottles—larger than household but smaller than commercial quantities. The term appears in contexts of wine consumption, household provisioning, and modest trade. Understanding cask hierarchy (rundlet < barrel < hogshead < pipe < tun) helps students grasp graduated scales appropriate for different contexts. In poetry about wine culture, household economy, or personal consumption, rundlets provide authentic scale between bottles and barrels. The rundlet's intermediate size made it practical for households that couldn't consume full barrels before wine spoiled. Students should recognize that specific cask terminology adds authentic material detail—not generic "container" but specific rundlet with specific capacity. Related terms include pottle (smaller), firkin (similar size for ale), and tierce, all intermediate cask sizes. For students writing about wine culture, household provisioning, or domestic economy, rundlets ground descriptions in authentic material culture. The rundlet can represent household scale, modest sufficiency, or the material culture of wine storage and consumption.
Also Known As
rundlet cask small barrel
Skip to main content