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

surcoat

Apparel
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 loose outer garment worn over armor or civilian dress, often sleeveless and displaying heraldic devices, prominent in medieval chivalric poetry.

Detailed Definition
The surcoat occupies a vivid place in medieval romance and epic poetry, where it is frequently emblazoned with the arms and colors of its wearer, making the knight instantly recognizable on the battlefield or at the tournament. Beyond heraldry, the surcoat serves as a canvas for poetic description—its fabric might be silk or velvet, its hem embroidered with gold thread, its edges torn and dusty from hard riding. In narrative poetry, the removal of a surcoat can signal a shift from public to private identity, as when a knight casts it aside before an intimate encounter or a duel. The surcoat also features in scenes of courtly love, where a lady might present her own surcoat as a favor to her champion. Its practical function of protecting armor from sun and rain gives it a grounded, earthy quality amid the idealism of chivalric verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
"His surcoat of silk displayed the arms of his house, a heraldry of pride"; "The surcoat's embroidery was a map of his lineage"; "She sewed his surcoat for the tournament, a flag of her devotion"; "The surcoat, torn in battle, was a testament to his courage"; "He wore his surcoat to the joust, a knight of the old order"; "The surcoat's colors had faded, but his honor had not"
Additional Notes
The surcoat occupies a vivid place in medieval romance and epic poetry, where it is frequently emblazoned with the arms and colors of its wearer, making the knight instantly recognizable on the battlefield or at the tournament. Beyond heraldry, the surcoat serves as a canvas for poetic description—its fabric might be silk or velvet, its hem embroidered with gold thread, its edges torn and dusty from hard riding. In narrative poetry, the removal of a surcoat can signal a shift from public to private identity, as when a knight casts it aside before an intimate encounter or a duel. The surcoat also features in scenes of courtly love, where a lady might present her own surcoat as a favor to her champion. Related terms include tabard, coat armor, and jupon. Students should note the surcoat's heraldic function and its role in signaling chivalric identity and courtly love.
Also Known As
overcoat heraldic tunic outer robe
Skip to main content