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 W

whilom

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

An adverb meaning "formerly" or "at one time," used to refer to something that existed or occurred in the past.

Detailed Definition
"Whilom" derives from Old English "hwilum," meaning "at times" or "formerly," and appears frequently in medieval and Early Modern English poetry to establish a nostalgic or historical tone. Poets like Chaucer and Spenser employed "whilom" to frame their narratives in a distant past, creating an atmosphere of legend and romance. The term serves both temporal and tonal functions, signaling to readers that the events described belong to an earlier, often idealized era. Its usage evokes the oral tradition of storytelling, where tales began with formulas like "whilom there was" to transport audiences to bygone times. The word contributes to poetic meter and lends an air of antiquity that enhances themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time.
Example
Example in poetry:
Formerly, in times past, once upon a time; "Whilom, as olde stories tellen us" opens many Chaucerian tales; Spenser uses whilom to evoke ancient days of chivalry; The castle whilom stood proud but now lies in ruins; Whilom there dwelt a knight of great renown; Medieval poets loved whilom for its nostalgic flavor
Additional Notes
“Whilom” means “formerly” or “once upon a time,” marking temporal distance in narrative or reflective poetry. It lends a sense of nostalgia or legend, signalling that what follows belongs to an earlier age. Recognising its function helps interpret tone shifts toward the mythical or historical.
Also Known As
formerly once once upon a time aforetime
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