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.

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 S

Salmon of Knowledge

Mythology
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

Magical fish that grants wisdom to whoever eats it, central to Fionn’s origin

Detailed Definition
The Salmon gained all the world’s knowledge by eating hazelnuts from the Well of Wisdom. Fionn burned his thumb on it and gained insight. Poets reference the Salmon to symbolize the acquisition of wisdom through accident or sacrifice, the link between water and knowledge, and the bard’s sudden flash of understanding.
Example
Example in poetry:
Salmon of Knowledge is a magical fish that gains all wisdom by eating hazelnuts from sacred wells; Fionn mac Cumhaill gains its wisdom by burning his thumb and sucking it; Poets reference the Salmon to explore the acquisition of poetic insight; The hazel tree and salmon together symbolize the flow of wisdom from nature; It appears in dindsenchas and Fenian tales as a source of inspiration; The Salmon embodies the idea that knowledge comes through unexpected, humble means.
Additional Notes
The Salmon of Knowledge gains all wisdom by eating hazelnuts from the Well of Segais. Fionn mac Cumhaill gains its wisdom by burning his thumb and sucking it—a foundational myth of poetic inspiration. Students should study the Salmon as a symbol of acquired wisdom, the flow of knowledge from nature, and the humble means of enlightenment. The hazel tree and salmon together form a core Irish motif. Poets reference the Salmon to explore the origins of insight, the role of accident in discovery, or the sacredness of natural cycles in learning.
Also Known As
The Wise Salmon The Fish of Segais The Hazelnut-Eater The Source of All Knowledge
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