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 S

Stichic variation

Meter
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

Metrical variation occurring within a stichic (non-stanzaic) poem, where shifts in foot type, stress pattern, or line length create rhythmic complexity or expressive nuance.

Detailed Definition
Stichic variation describes the deliberate modulation of meter, syntax, or tone within a stichic poem (a poem composed of continuous lines without stanza breaks) to create rhythmic interest, emotional nuance, or structural emphasis. Rather than maintaining uniformity, poets employing stichic variation introduce shifts—such as a sudden spondee in iambic pentameter, a fragmented line in free verse, or a change in diction—to signal thematic turns or psychological states. This technique is essential in long stichic works like epics or meditative poems, where variation prevents monotony and mirrors the complexity of human thought. For students, analyzing stichic variation cultivates sensitivity to the dynamic interplay between form and content in non-stanzaic poetry, demonstrating how poets sustain engagement through subtle formal interventions.
Example
Example in poetry:
Stichic variation: In "Leaves of Grass," Whitman varies line length within stichic flow; Adrienne Rich’s "Diving into the Wreck" shifts tone without stanza breaks; Louise Glück’s "The Wild Iris" uses stichic form with subtle rhythmic modulations; Contemporary poets like Ocean Vuong vary enjambment in stichic sequences for emotional effect
Additional Notes
Subtle shifts in rhythm, syntax, or imagery within stichic verse to create informal sections. Adds structure without stanza breaks. Study epic poetry to observe natural unit formations.
Also Known As
metric variation rhythmic change
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