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 S

Skeleton in the closet

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

A shameful or embarrassing secret kept hidden from public view; closet metaphor describing concealed skeleton representing past wrongdoing, scandal, or disgrace threatening reputation.

Detailed Definition
Victorian origin, possibly from anatomists hiding illicit cadavers. In poetry, it embodies repressed trauma, family shame, or historical guilt. Gothic poets (Poe) dramatize its emergence; confessional poets (Plath) drag skeletons into light. The domestic metaphor (closet = private space) links secrecy to home’s false safety. Poets use it to explore truth’s liberating terror—how secrets poison until voiced. Its enduring power lies in universal fear of exposure, making it central to works about identity, inheritance, and the courage to confront buried pasts.
Example
Example in poetry:
Gothic poem: “Attic trunk holds skeleton in closet—Great-Aunt’s illegitimate child”; Political scandal: “President’s closet—skeleton of offshore accounts”; Family shame: “Addiction runs silent—skeleton in closet at every reunion”; Historical reckoning: “Museum’s closet—skeleton of looted artifacts, unreturned”.
Additional Notes
Victorian origin, possibly from anatomists hiding illicit cadavers. In poetry, it embodies repressed trauma, family shame, or historical guilt. Gothic poets (Poe) dramatize its emergence; confessional poets (Plath) drag skeletons into light. The domestic metaphor (closet = private space) links secrecy to home’s false safety. Students should explore how poets use it to examine truth’s liberating terror—how secrets poison until voiced. Its enduring power lies in universal fear of exposure, making it central to works about identity, inheritance, and the courage to confront buried pasts that shape present realities.
Also Known As
Dark secret Hidden shame
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