Etymology From post- + Latin lūdus (“play”) (modelled on prelude).
1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The final part of a piece; especially music played (normally on the organ) at the end of a church service.
In the Sibelian world of song, then, postludes would inevitably sound redundant or extraneous.2023, Gustav Djupsjöbacka, The Songs of Jean Sibelius: Poetry, Music, Performance, page 81:
2
A concluding passage of text or speech; an epilogue or afterword.
This was Nabokov’s postlude to Lolita, where he relates the book’s genesis.1995, Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2, Vintage (2019), page 313:
postlude
verb
Etymology From post- + Latin lūdus (“play”) (modelled on prelude).
1
Rare To form a postlude (to); to end with a postlude.
Mercifully never preceded by a drum-roll or postluded by a curtsey for applause, each poem seemed to arise from the surrounding prose, which Courtenay was successfully endeavouring to make sound as if it was being thought up on the spot.2003, Clive James, ‘Larkin Treads the Boards’, The Meaning of Recognition, Picador, published 2005, page 95: