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

Vulcan

Mythology
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

Vulcan is the Roman god of fire, volcanoes, and metalworking, equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus, often symbolizing craftsmanship or destructive power in poetic allusion.

Detailed Definition
Vulcan, husband of Venus, forged weapons for gods and heroes in his volcanic forge. He symbolizes craftsmanship, hidden power, and resilience through imperfection. Poets reference him to celebrate artistic labor, the transformative power of fire, and the dignity of skilled creation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Vulcan appears in Roman poetry: "Vulcan hammers in Etna’s forge— / crafting thunderbolts for Jove, / armor for heroes"; In craft verse, he symbolizes creation through fire: "Lame but mighty, / Vulcan turns ore to art, / pain to beauty"; Poets reference him in meditations on labor: "While gods feast above, / Vulcan sweats below— / his hands build their glory"; He embodies resilience: "Cast from Olympus, / Vulcan made his own realm— / where fire obeys his will"; In modern poetry, he represents industry: "Vulcan’s forge is factory now— / sparks fly from welding torches, / shaping tomorrow’s steel"; Contemporary poets link him to artistry: "Every potter, every welder— / Vulcan’s children, / turning mud and metal into meaning"
Additional Notes
Vulcan (Hephaestus in Greek myth), the Roman god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship, is the divine artisan who forges weapons, armor, and automata in his volcanic forge. In poetry, he symbolizes creative labor, resilience through physical imperfection (he is lame), and the transformative power of fire. When using Vulcan, emphasize his role as culture hero—his work enables divine and heroic action. Related concepts include techne (craft), the Lemnian forge, and the Vulcanalia festival; he contrasts with Mars’s brute force, illustrating how creation underpins destruction. Modern parallels include the artist or engineer as unsung builder of civilization.
Also Known As
The Divine Blacksmith God of the Forge The Lame Artificer Hephaestus
Skip to main content