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 T

targe

Archaic Terms
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 small round shield, especially one used by foot soldiers in medieval warfare; a light defensive shield carried in battle.

Detailed Definition
"Targe" (also "target") derives from Old French "targe," referring to small round shields used by infantry, particularly Scottish Highlanders. Medieval and Renaissance poetry employed it when describing arms and armor, where specific shield types required precise terminology. The word distinguished targes from larger shields like kite shields or pavises, allowing accurate martial description. Scottish poetry particularly valued it for cultural authenticity—Highland warriors famously used targes. Poets depicting battle, armament, or martial culture used such specific vocabulary for authentic military atmosphere and technical precision. The term appears in contexts of combat, military preparation, or heraldic description where shield types' specificity mattered. Its archaic quality suited historical and heroic verse requiring elevated martial vocabulary. The word exemplifies how military terminology enriched literary language, offering precise distinctions that grounded combat descriptions in material reality of historical weaponry and tactics.
Example
Example in poetry:
A targe is a small round shield, especially used by Scottish warriors; In Scott's poems, Highland warriors bear the targe and claymore; The arrow struck his targe and glanced aside; Medieval poets describe knights with sword and targe; The targe bore the family arms emblazoned bright; Byron mentions the targe in his romantic Scottish narratives
Additional Notes
A “targe” was a small round shield used in medieval combat, notably by Scottish warriors. In poetry, it symbolises bravery, defence, or honour, and may appear in martial or patriotic contexts. Recognising its cultural associations, especially with Highland identity, enhances understanding of chivalric or nationalist imagery.
Also Known As
shield buckler defence protector
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