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

Sell one's soul

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

To compromise moral principles for material gain or advantage; Faustian bargain referencing selling soul to devil, symbolizing ultimate ethical betrayal for worldly success or power.

Detailed Definition
Sell one's soul means to sacrifice integrity, freedom, conscience, or spiritual truth for money, power, fame, comfort, or success. In poetry, the idiom has strong moral and mythic resonance, recalling bargains with the devil and stories of corrupted ambition. It can describe artists, politicians, lovers, workers, or societies that trade inner worth for outward gain. A poet may use it tragically, satirically, or self-accusingly. The phrase is useful for exploring temptation, compromise, and the price of worldly achievement.
Example
Example in poetry:
A tragic poem might show the singer selling his soul for applause that fades by dawn; In political satire, a minister sells his soul for a velvet chair; The phrase means to betray one's deepest values for gain; A poet can use it for moral corruption.
Additional Notes
Sell one’s soul means sacrifice moral integrity, freedom, or spiritual truth for gain, power, fame, or comfort. In poetry, it carries Faustian resonance and suits themes of temptation, ambition, capitalism, art, politics, and betrayal of self. Students should notice the transactional metaphor: the soul becomes property with a price. The phrase is most powerful when the bargain appears attractive at first but leaves emptiness afterwards.
Also Known As
compromise morals
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