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 V

virtue

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

Moral excellence, righteousness, or inherent power; in older usage, often associated with feminine chastity or divine grace.

Detailed Definition
In classical and Renaissance poetry, “virtue” encompassed both ethical integrity and supernatural efficacy—such as the “virtue” of a healing herb or a hero’s valor. It was central to philosophical and religious discourse, representing the ideal alignment of action with divine or natural law. Poets like Spenser and Milton used “virtue” to explore moral struggle, purity, and the soul’s journey toward truth. In courtly love traditions, a lady’s “virtue” often meant her chastity, making it a recurring motif in sonnets and allegories. The term’s elevated connotations made it a cornerstone of didactic and devotional verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
By virtue of his noble birth, he ruled (inherent power, quality); The virtue of this herb will heal thy wound (efficacy, beneficial quality); A woman of great virtue and honor (moral excellence, chastity); Patience is a virtue hard to learn (moral quality, excellence); The virtue of the sword lies in its strength (special power, quality); She was praised for her virtue and her wit (goodness, moral worth)
Additional Notes
Virtue in archaic usage encompasses moral excellence, inherent power or efficacy, and specifically feminine chastity. Medieval and Renaissance texts emphasize virtue as both moral goodness and active power—the "virtue" of a medicine means its healing power. In discussions of women, virtue often means primarily or exclusively chastity. Students must recognize this narrowed meaning in gender contexts. Classical and Christian traditions viewed virtue differently: classical cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) versus Christian theological virtues (faith, hope, charity). In Renaissance texts, "a woman of virtue" emphasizes sexual purity. The phrase "by virtue of" means "by the power of." Understanding virtue's multiple registers—moral excellence, inherent power, female chastity—prevents misinterpretation. Compare modern "virtue" (moral goodness generally) with archaic usage where gender and power meanings dominate specific contexts.
Also Known As
vertue vertu power Punya
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