A STYLISTIC ANALYSE OF SELECTED PASSAGES M THE HOBBIT AND THE LORD OF THE RINGS
PAUL G. HUR'IZTBISE
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of arts
Graduate Programme in English York University
North York, Ontario
May 1998
Nationai Library Bibiiithèque nationale du Canada
Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques
395 Weliington Street 395, nie Wenington OttawaON K Y A W OttawaON KIAON4 canada carlada
The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Lïbrary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, districbuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/nlm, de
reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique.
The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othefwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation.
A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PASSAGES IN THE HOBBIT AND THE LORD OF THE RINGS
by Paul Gustave Hurtubise
a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
Permission has been granted to the LIBRARY OF YORK UNIVERSITY to lend or sel1 copies of this thesis. to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilm this thesis and to lend or seIl copies of the film, and to UNIVERSITY MlCROFlLMS to publish an abstract of this thesis. The author reserves other publication rights. and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts frorn it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's wntten permission.
Abstract
J.R.R Toikien's abilities in the art of narrative are explored and evaluated through the
medium of linguistic/socioiinguistic and literary theories. Chapter 1 discusses a poern by Tolkien,
"From dark Dunharrow in the dim moming," examining its exploitation of the d e s and techniques
of Old English poetic verse. Chapter 2 investigates Tolkien's skill in depicting not only comic
conversations, in The Hobbit, but in balancing the comic with the potentialiy tragic; this is done
through the medium of "Face," "Implicature," and "Speech Acts" as advanced, respectively, by
Goffhan, Grice and Searle. Chapter 3 explores bcevaluation," as proposed by Labov, in the passage
fiom The Lord of the Rings which describes the riding of king Théoden at the Battle of the Pelenor.
Appendix A contains the scene from The Hobbit, which is to be analysed in Chapter 2. Appendix
B contains a "labovian" breakdown of the passage which is to be analysed in Chapter 3. The sources
of each passage that is to undergo stylistic scmtiny are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
An end, if it is not fated, is at least reached thmugh a process, made up of processes, made
up of other processes. Through a "process," then, 1 find myselfhere, at the end of a long labour ûf
which 1 am proud And yet, without this process, and without ail of those events which nourished
it and enabled it to reach its fruition, 1 am not here: there is no Thesis. Therefore, certain Powers
deserve my gratitude. 1 thank Toikïen, first, for his work and his protection. 1 thank Claude and
Claudette Hurtubise, my parents, who encouraged my reading and fed it with books. 1 thank
Professor Ann McKenzie who first lit the fire and Professor Bob Simmons who nurtured it. 1 thank
Professor Marcia Macaulay, who taught me rigour and Professor Richard Handscombe whose
hobbit-like exterior does not Mly dissimulate a sharp, critical mind and whose advice and patience
have been a gift. But that Power which most aided me, and which still moves me daily, is Tara.
Through her love and her patience she supported me, even when it seemed I would and perhaps
should falter; and when the time came to "Eüde now, ride now!" it was she who seized the hom and
blew "such a blast upon it that it burst asunder."
Table of Contents
Page introduction .................................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 1 . Old English Poetics in "From dark Dunharrow in the dim moming" ................................................................................................................. 34
Chapter 2 . Face. Implicature and Speech Acts in the Meeting Between Gandalf and Beom ................................................................................. 64
Chapter 3 . Evaluation in "The Ride of the Rohirrim" .............................................................. 105
Conclusion .............................. ., ............................................................................................. 156
.................................................................................................... Appendix A ..................... ..... 164
................................................................................................................................. Appendix B 167
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 171
Introduction
This thesis is to concem itselfprimarily with the c'styistics" of the fictional writings of J.R.R.
Tolkien. T'hat is to say that 1 shall analyse Tolkien's writing bbstylisticaiIy," through the use of literav
criticism and iingulstic theones, as proposed by Spencer & Gregory.' Hence the stylistics fouod in
this work w i U not be identifiable with either linguistics or iiterary criticism alone, but with both. This
will be tme for al1 of the following sections except for Chapter 1, where 1 will substitute linguistic
theory with the descriptive d e s of Old English poetry, still keeping the analysis primarily stylistic.
1 mu% also stipulate that by "Iinguistic theories" 1 am referrhg to "linguistic" andor
"sociolinguistic" theories.
The matenal to be anaiysed will corne from two sources: The Lord of the Rings and The
Hobbit. In al1 cases 1 will extract a passage of prose or poetry fiom the text in question, which I will
then submit to sryiistic observation through certain specific Linguistic, or descriptive literary,
theories. The linguistic theories of which 1 will avail myseif are Searle's "speech acts," Grice's
"cooperative principle" of conversation, Gofian's theory of "face" and Labov's d e s of narration.
These will allow me to analyse various facets of Tolkien's style and should, in theory, provide proof
of his "literariness." But how "literariness" is to be derived fiom stylistic analysis needs more
explmation.
' John Walter Spencer and Michael Gregory, "An Approach to the Study of Style," Lin@stics and Style (London: Oxford Universiv Press, 197 1) 59- 105.
8
First of all, stylistic analysis, as 1 propose to conduct it, can be made of any written or spoken
manifestation of language, whether literary or non-litemy in origin. Therefore anything f?om a
politician's electoral speech to the des printed on a parking ticket can be stylisticdy scrutinized.
This is because language "is the medium which caries the whole of the culture of which literature
is one aspect-'" Thus, as language is cultural, anyihuig expressed in language is aiso cultural, and,
since style is "a cultural phenornenon"' of language, al l uses of language will display a certain style.
So, that a spoken or written text has a "style" is not sufficient for it to have "litera~ess." This latter
quality can still be deterrnined by the text's style, but the fact that a text has a style, alone, does not
mean that it is iiterary. Thus, there are literary and non-literary styles.
This leads us to the inevitable question: "bat is literature?" or "what is literary?" I do not
personally believe that a definition will ever be found that will satisfy everyone. This is because
Literature is an "aspect" of culture, and the dennition of "culture" is unavoidably debatable and not
universally agreed upon, either. Of culture and human b-ings, we can ask the same question as we
do for the chicken and the egg: which came first? This is also applicable to language and literature,
if ody in a purely anthropological sense; they probably evolved at the same time. Evidently, without
language there would be no literature, but, among human beings, can there tmly be language without
literature? Toikien himself beiieved that there could no?:
What are the origins of bfai.ry-stones'? That mut, of course, mean: the ongin or origins of the fairy elements. To ask what is the origin of stories (however qualified) is to ask what is
Spencer and Gregory 60. ' Spencer and Gregory 60.
the origin of Ianguage and of the mind4
That is, he seems to believe that the evolution of both "stones" or literature and language was
simuitaneous. So for the purposes of this paper language and narrative (or stories) are syrnbiotic and
of a mutually inclusive origin.
Furthemore, since literature is cultural, it necessarily imitates life as experienced by human
beings. Consider the difference between For Whom the Bell Tolls by Emest Hemingway or The Lord
of the Flies, by William Golding, and aImost any news article in the Toronto Star. Al1 report Me and
tell a story, but Hemingway's and Golding's texts go further than that: they provide us with
charactes, their thoughts, their feelings, their words, not as the synopsis of an event, but while the
event happens. That is, the audiencekeader is acknowledged as one that is not seeking information
only, but as one that is willing to be 'bnsported," as it were, into the text. Thus, if life is experience
then, in this case at least, Iiterature is "expenential," in imitation of life. And this, though admittedly
simply put, is what 1 deem separates litemture fkom other uses of language. Even arnong works that
attempt iiterariness, we, as audience/readers differentiate literary fiom non-literary works based on
their experiential value. Nor could this detract in any way fkom the importance of the perceived
quality of the Ianguage in any given text, because language is precisely that which gives a text its
experiential qualities, especially if we accept the proposition that tanguage and stories evolved
simultaneously. That which is most important is not just what is expressed but how, and "how is the
text expressed?" is a stylistic question. So, about style and literature, we may also ask the question
' John Ronald Rue1 Tolkien, "On Faky Stories," "The Monsters and the Critics" and Other Essays, ed. Christopher Toikïen (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983) 119.
10
'khich carne fkst?" They too are like the chicken and the egg, most likely, and are inseparable and
of a mutually inclusive genesis. But it is through styiistic analysis that we can determine a given
text's experiential value, thus permitting us to make a more informed decision as to whether or not
it is "literary." This is, admittedly, a very simple structure for the determination of "literariness," nor
am 1 M y satisfied with it. For example, a case may be made, in the observation of 'good" literature,
for the "craft" or "craftmanship" of the construction of its grammar rather than for its "experiential
value." The concept of craft certainly appears to be most applicable to Chapter 1, where the analysis
may not seem a s concemed with the 'iealism" of the writing so much as with how it conforms to
certain pre-set l i t e rq d e s . However, "d' is another t em for which the definition is
argumenative, and it is unclear how it might constitute or aid in the detemination of "literariness."
Yet, as anyone h o w s who has studied semiohcs, one of the denning features of language itself, and
hence of the use of language, is that it represents something in the field of reality or existence which
may or may not be in the expenence of the hearedreadedreceiver the expenencer of a given
utterance (or in this case "text"). It follows fiorn this that some parts of a language m u t be more
effective at certain kinds of representation than are others (or the exercise of "arbitrarhess" is
pointless). 1 extrapolate fiom this that which I call "experiential value," since it is not as general as
"crafY7 but is meant to encompass al1 the occurences of those features in "everyday" language which
far fkom being everyday touch or affect us most; and, as well, these feahires occur in al1 narrative
language, whether spoken, written or poetic.
Having stated this, however, 1 do not believe that the structure exists which can point out
everythmg that is literary to the satisfaction of everyone. Rather, 1 propose "expenential value" in
I l
lieu of individuai "taste," because such individual "taste7' is not explicative and not scholasticaily
admissible as a logicd reason for ' khy x is literature." But since both are individual to each of us,
and more so because '%te," or especidy communal "taste," is arrived at sornehow; I believe that
how we feel about experientid value, as a whole, is how we arrive at our Literary taste. That is, if we
feel that a text has supplied us with excellent expenential value, that its language pleases us in its
imitation of life, then we are ready to believe that it is literary. So I will be analysing, in part, the
experiential &ta which is not entirely separable fkom the theme of the text contained in Tolkien's
works, but not without achowledging that The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit both conform to
my own litemy '%aste."
There is more to Say about "taste," however. Sometimes, it escapes logic entirely, as in the
following quote by Joseph Mathewson about the three books of The Lord of the Rings:
They will be read, in parf because they're enjoyable. But other books exist which are equally enjoyable, and there are some that are even more so. They will be read, in part, because they're fun to t& about and because they appeal to linguists. But none of these reasons explain why Tolkien has taken the place of Salinger and ~olding.'
To Say the least, this is not an arbitmy comment. As Mr Mathewson sees if ToIkien has supplante&
or usurped the place of, Salinger and Golding though he does admit that The Lord of the Rinns is
"enjoyable." Then he differentiates, seemingly on purpose, between "enjoyableWand "literarf' or,
as he says it, "enjoyable" and "more enjoyable." Indeed, Mr. Mathewson seems to imply that not
al1 that is enjoyable is literature, especially, perhaps, The Lord of the Rinrrs. Or, at least, it is an
enigma: he doesn't really like it but since so many othen find it enjoyable like iinguists and people
Joseph Mathewson, A Reader's Guide to The Hobbit and The Lord o f the R i n ~ s , (New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1995) 21.
12
who like to talk about books then there must be something literary about it. It is also interesMg that
books that are '% to t a k about," or that linguïsts would like, seem to fall by the wayside with him.
So The Lord of the Flies itseifcan't be much fh to tak about Or, certainly, linguists don't h d it
"enjoyable." What he seerns to be saying is that The Lord of the Rings is a good (non-literary) story,
but that thanks to the fact that many people like it for various reasons none of which are
satisfactory to prove it Literary it has even 'Wen the place7' of others that he prefers. It is possible
to M e r deride the flippant criticism that Mr. Mathewson makes of The Lord of the Rings, but that
does not M e r serve the purpose of this paper. Let it simply be shown that the matter was simply
put beyond question because the critic, in this case, was ody expressing his taste, without explainhg
what it is about Tolkien's story that he didn't me. He could not give any reasoa that could
sufficiently explain why people liked the books, which also entails that, in his view, many of them
would erroneously find it literary-, a most discomforting notion indeed! In other words taste alone,
without the mitigation of a more arbitrary agent such as linguistics, is an unreliable critical tool at
best.
But this illustrates a battle that has raged since the publication of the trïlogy's h t book, The
Fellowship of the b q . Some of the negative criticism has been aimed at the incredible popularity
of The Lord of the Rings. But such criticism is futile, suice the sales of his book were never within
Tolkien's control. A more senous debate has always hovered over the experientid value of the story
itself. Edmund Wilson, one of Tolkien's rnost seriou detractors, writes:
Now, how is it that these long-winded volumes ofwhat looks to this reviewer like balderdash have elicited such tributes as those above? The answer is, 1 believe, that certain people
especially, perhaps, in Britain, have a iifelong appetite for juvenile trashO6
He M e r writes that, in The Lord of the R i n ~ s , 'What one misses in al1 these terrors is any trace
of concrete reality."' One does not want to think what he might have said about The SihariIlion!
However, that the work is one of ' 'f~bsy" a fairy tale, ''juvenile trash" seems to be what
displeased him most. To this, Tom Shippey Later retorts:
Certainly they are about 'creatures who never existed'. Most novels are about 'people who never existed'. The cry that fantasy is 'escapist' compared to the novel is only an echo of the older cry that novels are 'escapist' compared with biography, and to both cries one should make the same answer: that fieedom to invent outweighs loyalty to mere happenstance, the accidents of history; and good readers should know how to filter a general applicability fkom a particdar story.'
What Shippey's quote reveals, through its more logical approach, is that Wilson is not necessarily
offering a conclusion that he has reached through reasoning or even rationality; rather, he, like
Mathewson, is simply exhibiting his taste.
Wilson does make another comment, however, that I have never seen adequately refuted.
That is, he felt that ToLkien's writing, fa. fkom being literary, is also '%ad":
The most distinguished of Tolkien's admirers and the most conspicuous of his defenders has been W.H. Auden. That Auden is a master of English verse and a well-equipped d c of verse, no one, as they Say, will dispute. It is signincant, then, that he comments on the badness of Tolkien's verse there is a great deal of poetry in The Lord of the Rings. Mr. Auden is apparently quite insensitive through lack of interest in the other department to the fact that Tolkien's prose professorid amate~rishness.~
is just as bad. Prose and verse are on the same level of
Mathewson 62-3. ' Maihewson 6 1. ' T.A. Shippey, The Road to Middle-earth (London: Grafton, 1992) 25 1. Edmund Wilson, "00, Those Awful Orcs," A Reader's Com~anion to The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit (New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1995) 58-9.
14
Shippey has provided some counter-examples to this view, and, to his credit, he has utilized actual
excerpts fkom the text of The Lord of the Rings to back his arguments. However, it seems to me that
in view of the seriousness of Wilson's daims, as weIl as to his statement that "Dr. Tolkien has little
skill at narrative and no instinct for literary fom~,"'~ that very important information is still missing
which ody a more rigorous srylistical analysis may display to adequately refute these c1ai.m~. In other
words, are the claims made ûuly because Tokien is a pedestrian writer, or are they only the
confabulations of taste? This brings us fidl circle, then, and 1 m u t now explain how 1 will proceed
with my stylistic analysis as well as elaborate on those theories which 1 wiil be employing.
Method of Analysis
In al1 cases, I shall outline the theory that 1 will utilize, and then I shal1 use it to analyse
certain passages f?om either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rinm. In al1 cases where there are one
or more linguistic theories, the purpose of this exercise is to show, not simply the applicability of the
theories in question to Tolkien's writings, but how this applicability displays the expenential value
of Tolkien's writing style. That is, since these theories have been developed to describe actual
language, as it is used in everyday life, it should be expected that the closer to life is the language
utilized in Toikien's texts, the better the fit behireen theory and the selected passages. We should
expect fkom a text that is poor in experiential content, lower on the Literary scale, that its flaws might
be revealed by analysis through these theories. The opposite, then must be true for passages that are
'O Wilson 59.
15
more literary and have p a t e r experientid value. This is so because I assume, as was hinted above,
that the better writers are those who best simulate life through their WTitings. 1 mean this in the
broadest sense: good Literature has much more to do with the language of the text itself being
realistic or of hi& quality over strictly the environment within the text or even the perceived
"realism" of the plot. Environment and plot, then are secondary concems to the "'real to Life" qualities
of the ianguage in the narrative.
In the case, such as in Chapter 1, where the theory is not specially linguisticdly descriptive,
but delineates the d e s of a certain discipline (in this case, of Old English poetly), experiential value
is entirely dependant on how well these d e s were followed. They are more limited, of course, since
the theory in question is not concemed with them so much as with the fom of the poetic discipline.
Therefore, if Tolkien has written a "good" OE poem, then it will be shown in just how well he
follows the d e s and whether or not he can, in a way, make it his own; that is how well he inserts
his own individual effects into the poem while not leaving the discipline that it requires, to be an OE
poem.
Chapter 1 : Old English Poetics in "From dark Dunharrow in the dim morningy'
Though old f o m (such as Old English poetry), or the laiowledge of them and their huer
workings, cannot be termed as cclinguistic" theories, they can still be used "stylistically" and will
serve as the starting point in my stylis tic analysis of Toikien' s writing . Certainlyy it cannot be denied
16
that Tolkien's knowledge of the ancient languages of Europe was considerable. In fact, he borrowed
a d o r was influenced by the lexis, the grammar and even the mythological ideas or characters in
hem, which can be seen in his Middle-earîh writings. For example, the name of the King of Rohan,
Théoden, cornes fkom Old English, 'Wëoden," which means, "chief of a tribe, d e r , prince, king.""
As well, the names of Théoden's niece and nephew, É o w p and Éomer, respectively, are compounds
built fiom Old English "eoh," meaning 'Wu-horse, charger,"" and ''wyrm," meaning ''joy, rapture,
pleasure, delight,"'3 andor "mære," which means "mare.""
Toikien did not only borrow linguistically fiom older sources, but he was also influenced by
stories written in these older languages. For example, the saviour of Middle-earth in the First Age
(Frodo and Company are in the Third Age), Eiirendil, was modelled after an Angel, named
"Earendel." And Eiirendil's role in the history of Middle-earth was also inspired by this passage £kom
an Old English poem in the Exeter Books, known as Christ 1 or The Advent Lwics:
Ealla earendel, engla beorhtast ofer middangeard monnun sended.. .
'Oh Earendel brightest of angels, sent to men above Middle-earth ... ' l5
Indeed, this is the passage that inspired "Middle-earth" to begin with, because the story of Eirendil
was the £îrst to be wriîten by Toikien. Thus, Eiirendil is the hero, in The S i h a d i o n , who convinces
l 1 Clark Hall, A Concise Anglo-saxon Dictionarv, 4& ed.(Toronto: University of Toronto Press) 358.
" Hall 1 OS. l 3 Hall 426. '' Hall 226. (Although Tolkien may have intended "rnàére" for which the definition is 'cfam~us,
great, excellent, sublime, splendid.") l5 Shippey 218.
the gods to intercede on behaif of Elves and Men against Morgoth, and to forgive the Elves for
having forsaken Valinor (the home of the Gods, or 'Vdar"). When he has secured forgiveness for
the Elves, and approval of their r e m to Valinor, Eirendil cornes back to Middle-earth just once,
for the last battle against Morgoth; he sails through the air in a ship, given to him by the Valar,
But Ekendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered aii the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air al1 the day and through a dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun, Eiirendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him fiom the sky...16
Thus, truly, Eiirendil is "ofer rniddangeard," "over (or above) Middle-earth," as the angel Earendel
in the Old English poem, and he saves Elves and Men fkom Morgoth, the h t "Dark Lord" of
Another such example can be gleaned fiom the epic Beowulf, where Wiglaf tries to rouse
Beowulfs retainers into helping their leader as he founders beneath the assault of the dragon:
NE is se dæg cumen dat Cire man-dryhten mægenes behofad g5dx-a @th-rinca; wutun gongan te, helpan hild-fniman, thenden hyt si, glëd-egesa grim! l7
'WOW the day has corne when our lord needs support, the rnight of stmng men; let us hurry forward and help our leader as long as fire remains, fearsome, searing flame~."'~
This closelyresembles Théoden's first speech to the Riders of Rohan, when they have reached Minas
Tirith, in "The Ride of the Rohirrim" Chapter V of The R e m of the King:
l6 J-R-R. Toikien, The Silmarillion (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978) 303. I7 Beowulf Lines 2646 to 2650 I 8 Beowulf, tram. Kevin Crossley Holland, The Angio-Saxon World: An Antholow. e d Kevin
Crossley-Holland. (London: Oxford University Press) 140.
"Now is the hour come, riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet though you fight on an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths ye have taken: now £idfil them ail, to lord and land and league of fiiendship! "19
Some of the textual elements, and all of the most important cultural ones, are mirrored in both
passages. Both begin with the coming of the hour or day of action and battle, and both mention the
fearsorne power of £ire as one of the obstacles or foes that they must face. Both also heavily stress
loyalty to one's b'man-dryhten" "leader of men" as welL as to oaths spoken to that leader, though
in the Beowulf excerpt this is tacitly undentood and is not openly mentioned.
However, Tolkien did not limit himselfonly to lexis, grammar and content (or inspiration).
He also borrowed fom fiom older epics. In particular, he was adept at writing in the Anglo-Saxon
poetic form, perhaps the most notable example of which is "From dark Dunharrow in the dim
moming." It has all the elements of an Anglo-saxon poem Save two: it is not written in Old English
and it does not have the mid-line caesura common in OE poetry. Therefore, unless these elements
are necessary in order for a poem to be deemed an OE poem, "From Dark Dunharrow in the dim
morning" is an OE poem, and it is the fïrst item among Tolkien's writings for whch 1 will provide
analysis.
l9 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (London: Harper Collins Publishen, 1968) 868. [**Note: al1 page references are fkom the Harper-Collins single volume edition. For those readers who may be utilizing Allen & Unwin texts, the following formda will allow you to find the correct page: for The Fellowshi~ of the Ring, page # minus 4; for The Two Towers, page # minus 418; for The Retum of the Kin. page # minus 758.1
Chapter 2: Face, Implicature and Indirect Speech Acts in the meeting between Gandaif and Beom
In chapter 2,1 will utilize three theories for the analysis of a passage in The Hobbit. The
fmt of these is concemed with "face-work, as outlined by Esving Goffman in "On Face-Work," the
second deais with the "cooperative principle" and "implicature," as advanced by H.P. Grice in
Studies in the Wav of Words, and the third, which 1 s h d draw from in lesser measure, is the
'Theory of Speech Acts," as proposed by John R. Searle. The passage 1 will analyse is part of
chapter 7 of The Hobbit, "Queer Lodgings." In particular, I will examine the "introduction" scene,
where Gandalf introduces Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves to Beorn, who is, to Say the least, initially
a very reluctant host. This is acknowledged, 1 believe, by most readers as being a "ponderously"
hurnorous passage; that is, it is quite funny, but the fact remains, throughout the passage, that
Gandalf and Company are really in a tight spot! But fmt I must give a brief explanation of the
theones which 1 wiIl use for its analysis.
Ening Goffman States:
Societies everywhere. if they are to be societies, must mobilize their members as self- regulating parîïcipants in social encounters?
According to G o h a n , one way society achieves this is by introducing regulations of social
interaction through ritual. That is "ritual" is an act that is not only "habit," which is mere repetition,
but is also maintaineci with regards to something that is sacred. The "sacred" item, then, is 'Tace."
'O Erving Gofim,"On Face-work: an Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction," The Journal of Psvchiatry 8 (1955): 229.
Goffrnan defines Yace" as the
positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact."
Our face, then, is separate h m us, a projection, but our "'feelings' are attached to it? That
is, to human beings, the face we present to others in social encounters is, usually, dear to us because
it represents how we wish to be perceived by them, as well as k ing a statement of who we are.
Hence, a person is "in face" if
the line he effectively takes presents an image of him that is intemally consistent, that is supported by judgements and evidence conveyed by other participants, and that is codïxmed by evidence conveyed through impersonal agencies in the situation?
But one is out of face,
when information is brought forth in some way about his social worth which cannot be integrated, even with effort, into the Line that is being sustained for km."
So, if 1 presume to be "Supernian," 1 would be "in face" if 1 used my X-ray vision to tell my
interlocutors, for example, what colour underwear they are wearing (aithough by doing so, 1 may be
unwittingly threatening their face. especially if the colour or lack of the underpants may prove
embarrassing tn have revealed at large). But 1 wodd be "out of face" if 1 was pressed into answering
"what colour are my undergarments?" and could not give the correct answer; of course this example
presents a problern since, to Save face, anyone cm lie about their under-things but 1 will persevere
with it nonetheless-
21
Furthemore, throughout social encounters, as speakers, we must ensure that a certain
"expressive ordei' prevail. 'Expressive order" can be defined as that "order which regulates the flow
of events, large or small, so that anything that appears to be expressed by them will be consistent
with ... face."" So even though 1 may not be able to answer "what colour are my undergarments?" as
long as 1 could convince the other participants that not answenng is consistent with the Iine 1 have
taken, that 1 have properly maintained the expressive order despite not answering "red" or '%lue with
Little pink piggies," then 1 can remain in face. For example, 1 could Say %hy, Barnes, you know
perfectiy well that X-ray vision only reveaIs black and white, not colours!" Then, for the moment.
1 have sustained the expressive order, as well as rny face.
Yet,
just as a member of any group is expected to have self respect, so aiso he is expected to go to cenain len-ths to Save the feelings and face of others present?
So, in the above example, if Bames is not satisfied with my explanation that X-rays don? distinguish
between colours, he may yet not pmue the point, especially if the line he has taken is that he is a
considerate peson. Thus he rnay be inclined to cooperate in the discussion, because, depending on
the group, even if he chooses to press me and prove that I am not Superman, he nsks the Ioss of his
own face. as a consequence of having successfully deprived me of mine. This is readily evident,
again, if the other member(s) had not accepted my claim in the first place but had allowed it to stand
in order to maintain the expressive order. So, by contradichng my daim, Bames may well go against
the cooperation of the group; he may Say about himself that he is not going to cooperate.
22
It is at this point that Goffman's theory of Face intersects with Grice's cooperaàve principle.
Although Grice's maxims, which 1 will discuss below and explain further in Chapter 2, are primady
concerned with implicanire, they represent only one facet of the cooperative principle. So Grice's
principle is applicable not only inasfar as the logic of a conversation or social encounter is
concemed, but also to the face-maintenance ritual: ruthless slaughter of face is not conducive to
conversation, or other constructive purposes, but to war. If al1 parties are at war with each other, then
there is no communication and society has effectively broken down. Also, as in the cooperative
principle, utterances are supposed to "make sense" orbe consistent with the context of the discussion
or conversation in question, or the exercise becomes nothing more than an exchange of nonsense.
Thus, the cooperation of dl parties involved in a social encounter is essential to face-maintenance
as well as to the continued existence of "societies." 1 will r e m to the cooperative principle shortly.
But fmt, according to Goffman, there are two major processes by which the expressive order
cm be kept going. The first is through the "avoidance process" and the second is through the
"corrective process." The "avoidance process" cm be consiituted of one of two kinds of manoeuvres,
the defensive and the protective. In defensive manoeuvres, the speaker protects hisiher own face,
while in the protective manoeuvre s/he is protecting the hearer(s)'s face. Some defensive avoidance
manoeuvres include the use of a go-between, avoidance of certain topics, excessive humility and
joking about claims of self. Some protective avoidance manoeuvres include respect and pohteness,
avoidance of certain topics, modifications to soften demands and a joking rnanner towards others'
negative self-claims (A: "Sony I'm late." B: "You look dive to me!"). Notice that some of the
manoeuvres are interchangeable, between defensive and protective avoidance, such as "avoidance
23
of certain topics." For example, if 1 don't want to be questioned about king Superman, then it's a
good idea if 1 don? introduce that topic into the conversation, thereby defending myself. But, since
1 have so done, others may avoid M e r discussion of the subject in order to protect my positive
face.
The second process by which the expressive order cm be maintained is called the "corrective
process." This process happens when sorneone has said something such as '7 am Superman,"( Le.
ridiculous, etc.) or in any situation where a face-threatening action has occurred. The process has five
stages: 1) face-threatening act, 2) challenge (from the threatenee against the threatener), 3) offenng
(by the threatener to the threatenee), 4) acceptance (of the threatener's offering) 5) thanks (as
indicated by the threatener), though these need not al1 be explicitly verbal. In the "Supeman" case,
for example once 1 had said "I'm Superman!" someone rnight offer this tacdul (protective) objection:
"you're who?My offering could then be an apology, or a (defensive) re-iteration such as "sony!
1 meant, 'I'm super, man ! "' Acceptance of this osering could be as simple as "quite ail right, old
stick," and so on.
1 spoke, above, regarding the "cooperative pnnciple" and Griceys "maxims." Grice defines
the cooperative principle as follows:
Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the tak exchange in which you are engaged."
That is, to cooperate in a conversation is to make contributions to it that are understood by other
" H.P. Grice, "Logic and Conversation," Studies in the Wav of Words (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989) 26.
conversationalists and that make sense in the present context. "Our tak exchanges do not normally
consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rationai if they did? And inasfar
as the cooperation which is involved between speakers in a conversation, &ce developed certain
conversational d e s , which he cded maxims. There are four categones of maxims: "Quantity,"
"Quality," "Relation" and "Manner." They are as follows:
1. Maxims of Quantity: a) Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange)
b) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. 2. Maxims of QuaIity:
a) Do not Say what you believe to be false. b) Do not Say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
3. Maxim of Relation: a) Be relevant.
4. Maxims of Manner: Be perspicuous a) Avoid obscurity of expression. b) Avoid ambiguity. C) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity). d) Be orderly.
These maxims help to determine how and when "implicature" has taken place. That is, in the
"supexman" example, should another speaker, Ms. Phillips, Say "Oh yeah, 1 saw you flying over the
CN Tower just yesterday!" 1 would know that she is irnplying that she doesn't believe that 1 am
really Superman, especially if I not been there at al1 "yesterday" but had been stopping a bank
robbery somewhere else in the city. If 1 used Grice's maxims, 1 could determine that her response
was related in sorne way to maxim 2a: ' P o not Say what you believe to be false," that she h a not
obeyed it in her response. What she has done, in Gricean terms, is "flout" the maxim of Quality,
which is to
'O Grice 26.
blatantly fail to M I 1 it. On the assumption that the speaker is able to fulfill the maxim and to do so without violating another rnax.int ... is not opting out and is not ... trying to mislead ... This situation gives rise to conversational irnplicature; 31
So, if the speaker is remaining within the cooperative pnnciple, that is s/he is stiu participating in
the conversation and is not opting our or quitting the conversation, and she disobeys one of the
m m (which, as h e m , we would be aware of), then dhe is fi 0uhng it. "Violation" of a maxim
is different in that. though the maxim is disregarded, it is done so "unostentatiously," that is in the
hope that the hearer(s) will not notice i t A speaker may also face a clash, in which case s/he is
unable to fulfill one of the rnaxims without violating another. We shdl see that Gandalf, in Chapter
2 below, is faced with d l of these aspects of the cooperative principle.
Chapter 3: Evaluation in "The Ride of the Rohirrïm"
At the end of any verbal or written nanative it is possible for the listenexfs) or reader(s) to
ask of it "so what?" That is, every story necessady has a point which may or may not be well
outlined, as far as readers or Listeners are concerned; and for witnesses of a narrative to ask this
question is an indirect speech act: they are in truîh implying that 'Viis s tov is not good!" In other
words, when witnesses to a narrative ask "so what?" they are expressing the opinion that the events
desaibed by the story were not described in a particularly interesting or noteworthy fashion. And
since "narration is essentially a way of linguisticaiiy representing past experience, whether real or
'' Grice 30.
imagi~ed,'~~ '%O what?" is the most nsimning comment that cm be made about a narrator's story.
Therefore s h e wiil attempt to evade that comment by adequately communicating to hider Listeners
the value or importance of the experiences she depicts. This is to be accomplished through
"evaluation."
The OED defines "evaluation" as
I. the action of appraising or valuing (goods, etc.); a calculation or statement of value essentialiy the action of evaluating or determining the value of (a mathematicai expression, a physical quantity etc.) or of estimating the force of (probabilities, evidence, etc.)"
The definition of "evduate" mirrors this, but adds to it:
la) to work out the 'value' of (a quantitative expression); to find a numerical expression for (any quantitative fact or relation) b) gen. to 'reckon up,' ascertain the amount oc to express in t ems of something already
known30
Two particular functions of evaluation in these dennitions are 1) the action of estimating the force
or value of something and 2) the action of expressing in tems of something already known. If
speaking in relation to narrative evaluation, then, when the narrator evaluates s h e is, respectively,
either giving hisher opinion of the force or value of a certain occurrence in the narrative and/or s h e
is making use of simile or metaphor. This is in accordance with Labov's theory, except that
estimation and rnetaphorising are not equal components. Rather, metaphor is a sub-section, albeit
a major one, of evaluation, whilst "estimation" is probably the best synonym one may find for
"evaluation," on the whole. Labov's own definition is as follows:
" Elizabeth Closs Traugott and Mary Louise Pratt, Linmistics for Students of Literature (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1 980) 248..
" Oxford English Dictionary, vol 5 (Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1989) 447. " OED 447.
... the evaluation of a narrative: the means used by the narrator to ùidicate the point of the nanative, its raison d'être: why it was toid and what the narrator is getting a t ''
How does evaluation do this, then? But before this question can be adequately answered, some of
the other parts of a narrative must be de£ined and explained 1 will draw, then, upon Labov's theory
of narrative, as he has explained it in "The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax."
Narrative is comprised of several basic components. The first that I shaii describe, and the
most basic, is the "narrative clause."
In the description of narrative, clauses like these (narrative clauses), which present individual events, are the basic unit of analysis ... . Narrative clauses ... are main clauses consisting rninimally of a subject NP [noun phrase] followed by a verb in the simple p a s tense (or sometimes, by convention, the simple present), and an object NP if required by the verb. j6
But we should also keep in mind that
we can defhe a minimal narrative as a sequence of two clauses which are temporally ordered: that is, a change in their order will result in a change in the temporal sequence of the original semantic i~terpretation.~~
ïhat is, a narrative such as "He threw the stone. The stone hit the window," may be considered as
a minimal narrative, when in that order. And "He threw the stone" and 'The stone hit the window"
are considered narrative clauses within this minimal narrative. We know this not only because they
are in the simple past but because to change their temporai order "The stone hit the window
because he threw the stone" would change our interpretation of how the events took place. In fact,
j5 William Labov, "The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax," Lanmiage in the Inner Citv : Studies in Black English Vemacular (Philadeiphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965) 368.
j6 Traugott and Pratt. 248. j7 Labov 360.
28
they no longer support or display a narrative time-line or a sequence of events. Or, to use the
vemacular, NC's offer us the "play-by-play" of the event being described.
Narrative clauses, then, are where ~3 narrative happens: that is, without the NC, there is no
mie narrative. For example:
Sam's hand wavered. His mind was hot with wrath and the memory of evil. It would be just to stay this treacherous, murderous creature, just and many times desenred; and also it seemed the only safe thing to do. But deep in his heart there was something that restraineci him: he could not strike this thing lying in the dust, forlom, minous, utterly wretched. He himself, though o d y for a Little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed the agony of Gollum's shriveiled mind and body, enslaved to that Ring, unable to h d peace or relief ever in life again. But Sam had no words to express what he felt. 'Oh, curse you, you stinking thing! ' he said 'Go away! Be
Keeping in mind a few additional stipulations by Labov,
Clauses containhg used to, would, and the general present are not narrative clauses and cannot support a narrative. It is also the case that subordinate clauses do not serve as narrative clauses,3g
this "narrative," as it were, can be edited to three narrative clauses without losing its basic sense:
1) Sam's hand wavered. 2) ..there was something that restrained him. 3) ..dimly he guessed the agony of Gollum's shriveiled mind and body.
Note that clauses 1 and 2 seem not to be temporally ordered. The most logical sequence would be
that something resaauied him and then his hand wavered. But in Yhere was something that
restrained h i m we are dealing with '%omerhing" as the agent and subject, while in 1 Sam's hand is
the subject and in 3 Sam ("he") accomplishes that function. And, in clause 2, the agent's action is
ongoing due to the nature of "to restrain" thus though it logically happens before clause 1 it
38 The Lord of the Ring 979-80. 39 Labov 362.
equally logically occurs after it or even at the same tirne. Thus the temporal order is not necessarily
lost. However, rnuch is lost fkom this version that, in the other (as well as in this one), pertains to
evaluation (the minimal agentive participation of Sam is, in fact, evaluation) as weli as to some of
the other functions of narrative. 1 will now proceed to elucidate these.
Narrative, when M y fomed, consists of six sections, not necessarily always in strict order:
1. Absiract (answers the question 'what was this about?') 2. Orientation (answers the questions 'who, what, where, when,
why? ') 3. Cornplicatirtg Action (answers the question 'then what happened?') 4, Evaluation (answers the question 'so what?') 5. Result or remlution (answers the question 'what findly happened?') 6. Coda (answers the question 'is that the end?')
Abstract:
The abstract answers the question %bat was this about?" about the namative in question.
Hence, its fûnction is to summarize the point that was, or is about to be, made by the nanator. It is
not at ail uncornmon to find that it begins a narrative. For example, an adequate abstract for the
above passage fkom The Lord of the Rines could be "Sam a h o s t killed GolIum, once."
Orientation:
Orientation answers some or ail of the questions 'who, what, when, where, why,' about the
narrative. Its position may Vary within a text, and though an orientation section is often f o n d at the
beginning, a narrator might choose to give more orientation to hisher audience at a later point. Such
is the case with Gandalf s admonition to the Dwarves and Bilbo in The Hobbit when they are about
30
to meet Beorn. Orientation serves to ground the narrative text, providing the reader or audience with
a context-
Complicating Action
The complicating action, or CA, answers %en what happened?" It sets the plot in motion.
An exampie of a CA is the beginning of Frodo's joumey with the Ring. Most of the narration prior
to that discovery serves the purpose of orientation, setting the stage. But once we have found out that
Frodo iahents the Ring, as weli as its significance to him and the world, we are entitled to ask "then
what happened?" The answer is that Frodo undertalces the Long joumey to, in the end, destroy the
Ring. But this CA sets a number of story-lines in motion, such as the adventures of Pippin and
Merry, as weIl as those of Gimli and Legolas and Aragom.
Resuit (or resolution):
It is relevant that Labov makes the distinction between the two denominators of this event.
That is: a result is not always a resolution. In any case, the result answers 'What fuially happened?"
about the narrative. The result of Frodo's CA is that the Ring is destroyed and the people of Middle-
earth are fkeed nom the spectre of Sauron's domination, to put it altogeîher too simply. But the CA
of Treebeard, for example, is that he decides to act on the infornation brought to him by the Hobbits,
Meny and Pippin, whilst the result or resolution of that CA is that Isengard is destroyed and
Saniman is bereft of his power. It is not the main concem of the narrative of The Lord of the Rines
as a whole, but it contributes to the final resolution of the story.
Coda:
A coda will always mark the end of a namative and is, typically, found at the end of a
narrative. An example of this is "and they lived happily ever fier." The coda to The Lord of the
Rings is "'Well, I'm back,' he said," ' though the whole of the final chapter, "The Grey Havens,"
does also accomplish the task of coda. However, what seems to assist our perception that a coda has
occmed is simply that the end of the book has arrived, an4 indeed, this appears to be the case with
most modem written narrative.
We have now very bnefly examined all the parts of narrative other than evaiuation. Of
course, these items are more complex than they appear here, and, if need be, 1 shall elaborate on any
M e r properties whenever it is needed, and though 1 will not henceforth refer to them often, 1 deem
it important to have idormed the reader of the structural neighbourhood of "evaluation." 1 must also
stipulate that any given narrative does not necessarily contain only one of each of these items.
Abstracts, Codas, Orientations, Results and Complicating Actions c m occur several times, usually
as or in sub-narratives within the structure of a longer nanative. Indeed, some sub-narratives in the
larger narrative of The Lord of the Rings also contain their own sub-narratives. Sam's "Song of GiI-
gaiad'"' was just that. He sang it within the episode of the "Flight to the Fords" of the Bruinen,
which is itself a sub-narrative of The Lord of the Rings. In fact, it is an important facet of The Lord
of the Rings that it is mostly episodic but contains a M y formed narrative, which is comprised of
those episodes.
The Lord of the Rines 2069. 4 The Lord of the Rings 202.
Evaluation:
The evaluation section is where the narrative derives moa of its signincance, as it is
presented to listenerslreaders. A good example of evaluation is apparent in the contras we c m see
between two sentences such as "my father said the fish 1 caught was big" and "my father was
hopping dl over the bank, and he said that mine was the biggest fish he7d ever seen!" Both
sentences, at some point in a fishing story, wouid elicit opposite reactions firom its audience. In the
first, the adjective is modes& descnbing the fish as "big." But in the second sentence, the father's
reaction is given, to display his reaction to the fish, and then his testimony is revealed and the
fishemüin's catch is glorified What exactly, then, are the evaiuative elements in the second
example? There are at l e s t four categories of evaluation: they are
1) Intemifiers (ex: use of exclamation marks) 2) Comparators (ex: metaphon, similes) 3) Correlatives (ex: present participles in -hg) 4) Explicatives (ex: occurring &ter conjunctions such as c%ecause" or "that")
I will define and M e r descnbe al1 four of these categories in Chapter 3, as well as show how they
apply to the last four paragraphs of Chapter V of The R e m of the King (book three of The Lord
of the R i n ~ s ) , which is entitled "The Ride of the Rohùrim."
Of course, the intent of the stylistic analyses in al1 three chapters is to attempt to circumvent,
for the most part, the phenornenon of "taste." As human beings, 1 believe that we cannot escape it
fully, but through the use of theories that are impartial as to exactly who wrote or said what they are
analysing 1 hope to give proofs of literariness in the works of Tolkien without acceding to my own
33
taste. The only category in which 1 will not altogether abandon it, is in that of Tolkien passages in
general: 1 reserve the privilege to analyse those scenes in The Lord of the Rines or The Hobbit,
which 1 favour or which are best suited to the theories which I have chosen as anaiytical tools. 1 do
not ask the reader, however, to go on without his/her own sense of Iiterary taste: she may or may
not like the passages 1 have chosen and may even dislike Tolkien's writings in general. Rather 1
suggest that she apply it to my analyses, if ody to see if it changes. Since the process of analysis is
partly to teach something new, then it would be a compliment to my work should 1 receive, fiom one
whose literary taste had not included Toikien's wrihng, the response: "it changed my mind about
Tolkien."
Chapter 1:
Old E@sh and Poetics in
"From dark Dunhmow in the dim moming"
How was Old Engiish poetry written, and what are its denning feanires? What devices were
used in that discipline? Though Tolkien h e w OE poetry extremely well, did he manage to satisfy
al1 or most of the critena of a tnie OE poem? And how did he do it? Furthemore, if he was
successful in this, how did he add his own stylizations, as opposed to simply following what we have
seen in Beowulf or "The Wanderer," to name only two? These are the questions which this fint
chapter will attempt to answer. Most important, for the stylistic analysis, is consideration of OE
poetics: how OE poetry was d e n . 1 will give consideration to this shortly, but I will £ k t show the
poem that 1 wil1 analyse, with this knowledge of OE poetic theory, since the discovery both of its
features and of those of OE poetry go hand in hand-
POEM : From Dark Dunharrow in the Dim Morning
From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning with thane and captain rode Thengel's son: to Edoras he came, the ancient haIls of the Mark-wardens mist-enshrouded; golden timbers were in gloom mantled. Farewell he bade to his free people, heaah and hi&-seat, and the hallowed places, where long he had feasted ere the light faded. Forth rode the king, fear behind him, fate before him. Fealty kept he; oaths he had taken, d l fulfilled them. Forth rode Théoden. Five nights and days east and onward rode the Éorlingas through Folde and Fenmarch and the Firienwood, six thousand spears to Sunlending,
Mundburg the mighty under Mindolluin, Sea-bgs ' city in the South-kingdom foe-beleaguered, fke encircled Doom drove them on. Darhess took them, horse and horseman; hoofbeats afar 20 sank into silence: so the songs tell us.'
Iwo different bases of analysis suggest themselves here: analysis through temporal dialect
or art form, and that of Toikien's own "modern" l i t e q style. Since both are inextricably Linked 1
will consider both.
It should be clear to any reader of Old Enghsh texts that "'From Dark Dunharrow" is written
in the Anglo-Saxon poetic fom:
Oft Scyld S c ë h g sceadena brëatum monegum miëgdum meodo-setla oftëah; egsode eorlas, syddan Erest weard fëasceaft funden; hë daes fi6fke gebgd:'
The above are four of the opening lines of Beowulf (lines 4 to 7). Both the Beowulf and the Toikien
passages are, on a basic point of structure, nearly identical. The only other "item" which may be
deemed to be missing fkom "From dark Dunharrow," other than the Old English language and the
caesura, is the grammatical complexity that is standard in OE ~oe t r f . Or, whereas Old English
poeay often did not conform to normal contemporary gramrnar, Toikien's poem usuaily does.
' The Lord of the Rings 834-5. Beowulf, ed. Michael Alexander, (London: Penguin Books, 1995) 2, lines 4-7. ' For example "Oft Scyld Scefing sceathena threatum/ monegum maegthum meodo-setla
ofteah;" directly translated means "Often Scyld Scehg enemy troops/ many nations mead- benches took away;". Ifwe were to follow the same structure with the two first iines of "From dark Dunharrow", we would approximately corne up with "Thengel's son thanes and captains/ dark Dunharrow in the dim moming rode fiom:" The meaning, for modem readers, would be more difficult to discem, and the effect of opening the piece with "dark" and "dim" would be lost.
However, the basic structural ciifferences end there.
Tmmediately obvious in "From dark Dunharrow" is the nearly overwhelming alliteration:
"From Dark Dunharrow in the Dim moming" (line 1). This diterative pattern is the same as that
used in OE poetry:
Old English poetry is accentuai and alliterative verse. Its metre is defined b y i t s s t r e s s patterns, not by vowel length or number of syllables. The Old English poetic line has two halves, divided by a sharp pause, or caesura. There are two beats to each half-line. Thus there are four beats to the line. The fiteration of the whole line is based on the fïrst heavily stressed syilable of the second half-he. This third stress will alliterate with either or both of the two stresses in the h t half-line. The third stress is the key sound that locks the two half-lines together. The fourth stress does not usually alliterate.'
Every line in Toikien's poem has four "beats," the third beat always ailiterating with the first or
second, or both, in al1 but three lines. In these latter, the pattern is looseiy assonant (lines 3, 1 1 and
13), somewhat like the pattern found in the third line of Beowulf: "hu tha aethelingas ellen
£iemedon!" There is no abteration in this line, but the stresses are begun with vowels("aethelingas"
and "ellen7'), just as in "oaths he had taken, al1 W l l e d themY'(Lne 1 1). The h t stress, in such cases,
appearç usually to begin with a vowel, thus the third stress most often "agrees" with the h t .
A further technique borrowed fkom OE poetry is that of "variation," or "interlacing." As
pointed out by Howell D. Chickering Jr. in the introduction to his translation of Beowulf, 'Variation"
is "a double or multiple statement of one concept or term in which each statement suggests a new
' Howell D. Chickering Ir., Beowulf A dual laneuaee edition (New York, 1977) 29.
37
aspect"' of an adjacently stated subject. A basic example taken fkom Beowulf is "1 did heroic deeds,
risked my life, performed glorious feats." There are eight instances of variation in 'Trom dark
Dunharrow," such as "to Edoras he came, the ancient halls" and "...to Sunlending, Mundburg the
mighty ... Sea-king' city." Also, "in addition to slowing the narrative pace, variation raises into high
relief those aspects of the action the poet wishes to emphasize,'* thus heightening the reader's
awareness of that which is being variated upon. For example, the action which is the ride to Munburg
ends with "... to Sudending/Mundburg the mighty under MindoUd Sea-king 's city in the South-
kingdom." The length of this variation and the t h e it occupies in the reading, as well as the
subsequent description of its state (cYoe-beleaguered, f i e encircled"), draw our attention to
Mundburg and heighten our awareness of the city, its importance and the consequent importance of
the ride that leads to it. Mundburg is thus aggrandized in our minci, and we are given some hints
about the people who live there. Another feature of Anglo-saxon poetry used in Token's poem is
"repetition." 'This entails the use of a leit-motif word such as "hami" at the outset of an episode, and
then, after occasionally weaving the word into the texture of the narrative itself, its prominent
reintroduction at the end of the episode."' Tolkien does this with the word 'Darhess": it appean
in the k t line as Wark," and again in the last sentence as "Darkness." Thus there is a "ring" enect,
as a cycle is being displayed.
Yet, Tolkien uses these techniques, especially variation and repetition, in a more complex
manner, as well as in the basic ways 1 have shown above. For example, though the word 'cDarkness"
Chickering 6. Chickering 7. Chickering 13.
38
appears in both the b t and last sentences, its counterpart, "rode," does not. However, both are
repeated several times throughout the poem, though one in variational mode and the other only as
itself. That is, "dark" and "Darlmess7' appear six times, variated, as "dark Dunharrow," "dim
~noming~~(though this is only a weak exarnple, as it appean in the first sentence), "mist enshrouded,"
"in gloom mantled," "ere the light fades' and "Darkness took them". Meanwhile, "rode" is repeated
four times in the poem and though it is not itselfvariated, its agent is: 'Thengel's son9'(he 2), 'Yhe
King7'(lhe 9) and "Théoden"~e 12) are al l variations on the same peson, and "Éorlingas"(line 13)
can be taken as yet another variation since they are Théoden's raison d'être, as it were, and this is
what he is, one of the Éorlingas. An interlaced pattern begins to appear. The three most important
concepts of the k t sentence "dark," "rode" and "Thengel's sonT7 are repeated and variated
throughout the poem, showing various dinerent facets of "dark," pitted against the four facets of
Théoden that are associated with "rode." Aiso, a type of repetition occurs with ''Thengel's son"
similar to that which occurs with "rode," because the concept of Théoden himself is not only
variated, as we have seen, but it is also loosely hinted at, or repeated, in the final sentence as
"honeman," just as "rode" is hinted at in "hoofbeats ..Jsank into silence." Thus Théoden "rode"
against darkness, and the poem sets up a mood of tension; two foes are nearuig each other and have
not yet met.
Moreover, this tension is begun in the first eight iines of the poem through lexical
oppositions. In the first line, "dark" and 'W are juxtaposed with "morning7' which, as the carrier
of the fourth stress, is clearly undemiined. In line five, "golden" and "gloom7' are the h t and third
stresses respectively, thus the "key" sounà, which Chiclcering calls the third stress, is set against the
39
original phoneme "gold," giving a sense of usurpation or mutaîion by b 4 g l ~ ~ m " as weii as the fact that
it now sits at the centre, covering the "golden hmbers" Like a made. Yet another opposition occurs
in lines seven and eight, where positively connotated "hearth," "high-seat" and "haliowed places"
precede the foreboding "light faded." Notice also the dual pattern of the aiiiteration in "where long
he had feasted, ere the fight fàded," which marks the transition between these preliminary
oppositions and the account of Théoden's departure. This is the final one-line opposition in the
poem, so not only is tension created by the w h g concepts of "rode," "dark" and "Thengel's son,"
but it is set up even before the ~ o r l i n ~ a s begin their joumey. More and more, we c m see a definite
pattern evolving, of opposition, variation, repetition, alliteration and so on. Each side, it seems, is
mustering a host of various parallel lexical items.
Ifwe de-magnik as it were, for a moment and step back to look at meaning in the poem, we
will find that the poem is filled with arnbiguous passages, or double entendres of a sort, mostly
hinging on repeated or variated passages or words. The first of these is "ere the light faded." To the
reader who has read the k t two books of The Lord of the Rings, it relates directly to the fact that
the skies over Rohan have been darkened by the black clouds of Sauron, and implies that, now that
the light is faded, the king must bid farewell to his people and his home, to do what? The poem does
not tell, even if the reader thinks she Imows. The reader, passing over this poem, recognizes that
Théoden is going to battle against Sauron, which recognition is the initial source of tension in "From
dark Dunharrow in the dim morning." But, de-contextualized as 1 have presented it, some double
meanings become more apparent "Light9' can be correlated with "life," if we accept "ere light faded"
as a statement about Théoden. So it is that the passage that ends with "ere light faded" assumes an
40
elegiac air. It is a wamÏng against and a mouming of the passing of the king of the Éorlingas. For
he physicallypasses through "Edoras," site of "his fkee people," "hearth," "high-seat" etc., towards
"Mundburg" where "'Darkness took them." And this is another double entendre, part of a longer one:
"Doom &ove them on. Darkness took themJhorse and horseman; hoofbeats afar/sank into siIence."
Literally, it means that the Bden of Rohan were fated to go to the battle at Munburg minas Tirith),
that they disappeared, fiom the sight of the people at Edoras, into the darkness or they had to leave
because of the darkness and that the sound of their hoofbeats also disappeared in the distance. But
Toikien is very careful to write %orse and honeman," throwing the referent '%hem,'' in the previous
line, into ambiguity. Ideaily, "thern" relates back to "Éorlingas," because that is one of the functions
it seems to accomplish in "Doom drove them on." But, since we are not told that darkness took
'%ones and horsemen," which would destroy the ambiguity (and thus the poem), both "Éorlingas"
and "Théoden" can be the accepted objects of "took" as well as of "drove." Again, via the context
of The Lord of the Rings, the reader th& first that '%hemy' designates the Éorlingas. But, de-
contextualuecl, and taking into account the punctuation, "horse and horseman" in the singular
offers a different point of view, changgg the possible meaning of the whole sequence, from "Doom
drove them on" to "sank into silence." In this case, it is to his doom, or death, that 'Théoden is driven;
darkness takes him (as well as his home); and the hoofbeats' sinking into silence is an evaluation of
that event. Also, "Darkness took them" relates back to "ere the light faded" of which it can imply
that it rnight have been accompanied by "for Théoden." Thus the tone in these last lines is not only
elegiac, but also one of strong foreshadowing at the point which "From dark Dunharrow" appears
in the text.
41
1 noted above that the vert, "rode" is omitted fiom the last sentence. In the context of the
foreshadowing that Théoden will sink "into silence," its absence becomes conspicuous because it
has been shown to be very important to the overall theme of the poem. One reason for thÏs absence
is that it suggests or displays that the riders have reached their destination; because in the second and
third occurances "Forth rode the king" and "Forth rode Théoden" Théoden's riding is simply
described, while in the h t and final instances he is riding fkom and to somewhere. At the start
Théoden rode "From dark Dunharrow" while the final "rode," seemingly endhg a cycle, mces the
Éorlingas3 ride kom Edoras to Mundburg. Thu, theoreticôIIy, Théoden's riding is finished once he
has reached his destination. However, does one not ride into banle? He "rode" into battle, didn't he?
Token consciously avoids "'rode," in the last sentence, saying instead bbhoofbeats...sank..." He does
this by switching subjects, fkom "hone and horsemao" to "hoofbeats," thus avoiding "rode" as the
predicate and denying the possibility that a h e such as "rode into batile" or "rode into glory," just
as texnially plausible, might take the place of "hoofbeats afàr/sank into silence." This considerably
weakens the action of "rode" and implies that the hoo fbeats of Théoden' s great ride, which we may
quaintly equate with the "ride" through life, sink into silence and stop. Their fmal action, "sa&,"
replacing "rode," transitively moves them into silence. We have now passed beyond foreshadowing:
Théoden's death, to the reader, seems to be foretold, or, to the eorlingas themselves, retold.
To continue, if we accept that "horseman" is a variated repetition of "Thengel's son," as 1
suggested earlier, the omission of "rode" by Token becomes even more telling. For, now, "rode"
is no longer the intermediary between 'Parkness" and "Thengel's son." Instead, as 1 also proposed,
we have b%oofbeats..Jsank into silence," which is no intermediary but is an expression of the
42
f o u n d e ~ g of "rode." Or, "rode," which is also Théoden's vehicle for action against Sauron, is taken
away fkom him via its transformation to "sank into silence." Thus, the "rode" of Théoden physicaliy
ceases in the last line. This is M e r supported by the apparent diminution of Théoden himseif over
the length of the poern. He starts as "Thengel's son," then is shown to be ? h e king," then is named
"Théoden," but he is only implicit in "Éoriingas" and is anonymous and even "cornmon" (as opposed
to royal) in 'lioneman" which word could also stand for any of the Éorlingas. The poem's ultirnate
double-meaning then startç to becorne apparent: "Darkness" does not only stand for the darkness of
cloud or night, or the dariaiess of Sauron which the reader immediately assumes and which the
poem equally supports but also for death. Throughout the poem, we witness Théoden riding to face
"Darkness" at Mundburg, fkom "dark Dunharrow" and Edoras "in gloom mantled," and we thbk
only that he is going to battle and that these references to darkness simply give us a sense of
foreboding. But, again, decontextualizing the poem makes it easier to discem the other journey that
Théoden has embarked upon: the journey towards his death, to which he is doomed. Notice also that
"Darkness," with a capital D, is no accident. It appears to be one, because "Darkness" begins a new
sentence, but the upper-case D implies not only that it is a darkness that takes "horse and horseman",
but the Darkness, personified, synonym of Death. The resemblance of the line "Darkness took them"
to the expression "death took hem" is deliberate. nius, the tension we feel fiom the mustering of
the various oppositional lexical items in the £kt half of the poem gives us a false expectation: we
expect a climactic clash between Théoden and Evil, but "Darbess" is not necessarily "evil" and
there is no clash, no opposition. There is no riding against Death. The tension of the great battle to
corne is a "red herring," as it were. The battle for Mundburg is not the real issue.
43
Darkness also undergoes a joumey of sorts, or rather a transformation, throughout the poem.
It begins as an adjective in "dark Dunharrow" and "dim morning." Then it is semi-active in "in
gloom mantled" and "mist-enshrouded" It is implicit in 'Vie light faded." However, in its final
appearance, it is an agent: ''Darkness took them." So it goes fiom casting its shadow on things, to
physically covering them as a shroud or made, to being the cause, as well as an implied agent, of
the light fading7 to, finally7 the agent, an acting force or persona. It undergoes this growth, as it were,
as the Éorlingas approach Mundburg. According to the sequence in the poem, someone travelling
"east" towards Munburg would h t encounter 'Punharrow," then '%doras," then "Folde" ... and so
on until the destination was attained. So "Darkness" resides at Mundburg for Thengel's son; its
power and presence become more and more acute and disturbing as he rides towards the Sea-kings'
city, thus its chronologicaVgeographicd growth of intensity through "From dark Dunharrow". Nor
does 'bDarhess" strike him down, or destroy him (etc...): it takes him, possessively, which
possession acts as a mirror to the mood of the poem, the general feeling of the Éorlingas (the "us"
in line 2 1) that Théoden was taken fkom them, as opposed to timely given, and that Darhess t a k
when doom wilis it.
A M e r indication that Thengel's son rides fiom darkness into Darkness, other than the
gradual personification of that force, is the D diteration that the first and 1s t sentences share. "From
dark Dunharrow in the dim moming"1ine-alliterates (my texm) with "Doom drove them on. Darkness
took them." A cycle is displayed here, and its function is to imply that no amount of "rode" will Save
Théoden fiom death, since al1 such acts are transient and must end. However, the he-alliteration
is inverted That is, the rnorphemes change places. Thus "dark" is the first mess in the h t line, but
44
it is the third stress in its analogue in line nineteen. Likewise, "dim," which resembles 'Poom" in
al1 but its vowel sound, having the same consonants in the same order, moves kom the tbird stress
("dim") to the k t stress ("Doom"). And, in both cases, the D's have been capitalized at the end of
the poem, their respective words having grown in importance. Therefore, the word "doom," which
is not norrnally definable in the tenns of "dark" or "dim," but is usually similarly connotated,
capitalized dong with "Darkness," is given equal personification and power. "Doom drove them
on": the capitaiization of its fiust Ietter is no more of an accident, in the poem, than for "Darkness."
It is a dark and mysterious force in 'Trom dark Dmharrow."
Support for the idea of Doom's darkness and power is given by two things: 1) the
conspicuous absence, between ''dixII" in line 1 and "Doom" in iine 19, of any major D alliteration
and; 2) the significant presence of "fate before him" at exactly ha1 fway in the poem (line 1 0). Of the
D alliterations, only one appears in the middle body of the poem: "day." But it is minor, relegated
to the unimportant position of 4th stress in line 12. So when the poem is read aloud, "Doom" arrives
like the deep boom of a big d m , or the gong of a huge bell, to be almost immediately foilowed by
c'Darhess." Consider their effect in the following iay-out of lines 12 through 19:
12. Forth rode Théoden.
12-18. Five nights and days east and onwards rode the Éorlingas through Folde and Fenmarch and the Firienwood, six thousand spears to Sunlending, Mundburg the mighty under Mindolluùi, Sea-kings' city in the South-kingdom foe-beleaguered, fie-encircled.
19(a). Doom &ove them on.
19(b). Darkness took thern,
45
So not only do our two upper-case D's come after a drought of D alliterations, but also, after a long
account the longest single sentence in the poem of the Éorlingas' joumey. Both lines are fonvard
leaning, strongly w s e d on the fint stress, then dwindle to give a slow-down effect. Both are
complete sentences, M e r slowing the progress of the poem and building suspense. It is as though
the Éorlingas have reached a wall or are standing on the lip of a clïff'. T'us, the loudness of "Doom"
and "Darlmess" is indeed emphasized, and they give the effect of the end of the joumey mily being
an End. There is no going M e r . And, also, seen in this way, we can almost Say that "Doom" gives
or delivers "them" to '?)arkness." If the poem had ended at line 19, there would have been no
ambiguity as to the fate of all the riders. But as it is, of only one are we sure: the "horseman."
Moreover, every new sentence, except for those begun in line 19, starts with an F. And there
are, altogether, 16 stressed F-be-g syllables in the poem. The overall effect, rnixed with the
inversed grammatical order of most of the phrases and sentences, is one of mngnitude. The
oppositions continue through these words, building tension, but interwoven through these
oppositions are words whose ambiguity also builds suspense. As it happens, many of them are
involved in double-entendres. "'Farewell he bade ... hallowed places" has an unmistalcable air of
permanence to it in view of the dual joumey undertaken by Théoden to Munburg/death. Also, 'ere
the Light faded" we already spoke of. Though ""fear behind him" seems to allude to the fear of his
people as they watch him ride off, it could just as easily signify that he no longer feels fear or that
he never will again because, of course, the only way to be certain that one will no longer feel fear
is to die. And "fate before h i m is not altogether a cornforhg exchange. Further, "oaths he had
taken, all fÙIfilled them" is another double-entendre, for one way of fulfilling the oaths to defend
46
Gondor is to die in the attempt Of the m e e n F-words, as it were, four have a negative connotation
(fear, fire, foe, faded), three have a positive co~ota t ion @tee, feasted Forth) three are topographical
and vaguely positive (Folde, Fenmarch, Firienwood), four are ambiguous (fate, Fealty, W e d ,
farewell) and one is inconsequential as signincance (Five). As weU, "Forth rode the king," "Forth
rode Théoden. Five nigtits and days" etc ... The loudness of the fricative F somds acts as an
amplifier, when the poem is read aloud. The forward-leaning gramniar also adds weight to the words
themselves; in most of the half-lines where they appear, the F syllables are the dominant stress, just
as in "fear behind him," forcing their meaning onto us with greater strength. But they also serve as
preparation for "Doom" and "Darkness," which are somewhat counter to the wild F diterathg that
so dominates the poem before theK arrival, diffusing, even shattering, its effect.
The second line of support that 1 mentioned, for Doom's importance in 'Rom dark
Dunharrow," is the line "fate before W and the fact that it appears at line 10, halfivay through the
poem. It is also the fifth of twelve phrases that could stand as complete sentences, roughly at the very
heart and center of the poem. However, before 1 continue, 1 shall have to "cheat," if you will: 1 tW
it is quite clear that 1 have been avoiding, for the most part, reliance on contexhial materials, for the
purpose of providing, for the moment, a Lord of the Rings-context-fkee analysis of "From dark
Dunharrow." 1 do not wish to wander away fkom the poem or use it only to glonfy The Lord of the
Rines. But, at this point, 1 think it relevant to discuss the notions Tokien may have had of "fate" and
"Doom," as well as the ideas that the Anglo-Saxons may have had of them, since both concepts are
of primordial importance to "From dark Dunharrow."
As John Tinkler puts it, 'The language of Rohan does not only 'resemble' Old English, it is
Old ~ngLish.'" Thus it is only logical to assume that the concept of b'DOom" and 'Tate" displayed in
"From dark Dunharrowy' is that which the Anglo-Saxons might have had. Analogous terms for these
in Old English inciude ''wyrd" and "dom." Bruce Mitchell provides these definitions respectively,
"fate" and ''judgement, law, opinion, power, glory, honour? But he is quick to point out 'The pre-
Christian meanhg on 'wyrd' is therefore hard to pin down."'* Thus 'kyrd" is, of the two, the word
which most resists clear definition or translation into modem English. One of the primary meanings
associated with "wyrd," however, is that of ''final fate, doom, death,"'' but it cm also stand for the
word of Go& or the 'alorking of God's ~ i l l . " ' ~ 'Wyrd," according to Mitchell, is also associated
with the word 'keorthan," '30 become, to happen." Shippey acknowledges this but adds
King Alfked brought it(wyrd) into his translation of Boethius too, to explain why divine providence does not affect fiee will: ' m a t we c d God's forethought and his Providence", he wrote, "is while it is there in His rnind, before it gets done, while it's still being thought; but once it's done, then we cal1 it wyrd. This way anyone cm tell that there are two things and two names, forethought and wyrd." A highly important corollary is that people are not under the domination of wyrd, which is why "fate" is not a good translation of it. People can change their luck and cm, in a way, Say 'Wo" to divine Providence, though of course if they do they have to stand by the consequences of their decision."
However, the sense of %yrd" which he derives nom King Alfred is not the one we get fiom this
passage in Beowulf; where we learn that the young hero would have died "nenie him witig God
wyrd forstode -/ond thas monnes mod," "unless wise God had withstood wyrd and the
' John Tinkler, "Old English in Rohan'" Tolkien and the Critics, ed. Neil D. Isaac, Rose A. Zimbardo (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968) 169.
Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 5" ed. (Oxford: Blackwell Publisbers, 1995) 377-8.
'O Mitchell 250. " Mitchell 250. " Mitchell 250. I3 Shippey 136.
48
man'siBeowulf s courage." l4 In this sense, God rnust intervene for Beowulf against "wyrd," the
certainfy of his death fkom his banle against Grendel's mother. It was Beowulf s fate, then, to die
at that moment but God overrode i t Thus Go4 only, is not dominated by "wyrd" (which is different
fiom Kim), in which case "fate" is a good equivalent. Yet Shippey is not entirely wrong for, as he
says, one can say "no" to Providence. That is to say that one can make choices as to whether s/he will
accept heIp, or will attempt an action that could doom himmer or put m e r in need of Providence.
Thus Beowulf is saved not only fkom 'kyrd," but also fiom his own "kod" or courage, which casts
him into the fight against Grendel's mother. The implication, marked by the dash ( ), is that
Beowulf was fated to die in battle against the monster, but oniy once he had decided, through
courage, to job that battle. Thus the domination of ''wyd" on people seems generally to be one of
'%ow," as in "howy' we die, much more than it is one of When." This latter we seem to relinquish
to "wyrd" based upon the choices we make. For example, it is Beowulf s wyrd to die in battle, but
this death does not happen until he chooses to face the dragon, and, that, alone.
Shippey provides a narrower definition of "dom," linking it with modem Enghsh "doom"
and with Old English "deman," '20 judge." Consider this discussion of fate and doom:
'Fate' is derived, as the OED says, fkom Latin fari, 'to speak', and means originally 'that which has been spoken', i.e. spoken by the gods. ... 'Doom' by contrast is native, the modem pronunciation of Old Engiish dom, a noun related to the verb deman, 'to judge'. It too meant in early times what was spoken, what people said about you (especially once you were dead), but also it had the meaning of a sentence, a law or a decision. Judgement day ... was accordingly in Old English domesdaeg, 'Doomsday' . A sense of 'future disaster' was soon attached to the word as a resdt. However, common to both words is the idea of a Power sitting above mortals and d i n g their lives by its sentence or by its speech alone."
'' Mitchell and Robinson 250. " Shippey 225.
The idea of a sentence or judgement is particularly relevant to "Frorn dark Dunharrow," in the sense
that it provides depth to, for example, "Fealty kept he;/oaths he had taken, d l fidfilled themm(lines
10- 1 1). The context for these lines, I will explain later, but f i c e it to Say that they provide support
for a favourable doom befalling Théoden. Does this mean
That sentence on him has h d y been executed? Or that disaster has corne at Last? Or that his life has now reached a proper close, with al1 debts paid, promises and debts fulfilled?16
Al1 three seem to be implied in the poem. But "opinionyy and "glory", as they relate to Mitchell's
dennition of "dom", seem also to be part, especially in Tealty ... fuifilled", of the meaning that
Théoden's doom takes in the poem. That the poet mentions Théoden's oaths fulfilied shows his
opinion, as well as that of the Éorhgas, of the king. Without this positive opinion, glory is not
possible. To the oaths that Théoden fulnlled, the Éorhgas attach great importance."
Some of Toikieds ideas conceming "fate" and "doomYy also colour the terms as they appear
in the poem. Primarily, it wouid seem, insofar as mankind is concemed (as opposed to elf-kind),
neither "fate," nor "doom" are utterly dominant over the destiny of the individual. That is to Say, one
can choose one's destiny (without necessarily having an idea of what that might specifically becorne)
l6 Shippey 227. " J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales3 ed. Christopher Toikien (London: Grafton, 1990) 303-5.
Essentidly, history repeats itself in The Lord of the Rings as the realm of the Éorlingas was given to them by the stewards of Gondor in reward for their aid against the easterlings, without which aid the Men of the West had been doomed. As a result of this gift, this is the oath which Eorl, then King of the Éorliqps, spoke "..I vow in my own name and on behalf of the Éotheod of the North that between us and the Great People of the West there shall be fnendship forever: their enemies shall be our enemies, their need shall be our need, and whatsoever evil, or threat, or assault rnay corne upon them we will aid them to the utmost end of our seength. This vow shall descend to my hein, al1 such as may corne afier me in our new land, and let them keep it in faith unbroken, lest the Shadow fa11 upon them and they become accursed."
50
based on the choices one makes. One fate does befall you, but that fate is never so set in stone that
it cannot be changed if the correct choice is made, and the same applies to doom. Of il1 choices in
The Lord of the Rings, perhaps the most flagrant is Boromir's choice to fosake the plan of
destroying the ring, and deciding instead to trust in its power. He attempts to take the ring firom
Frodo, nightening him away fiom the group as they are discussing the remainder of their jouniey,
and indirectly causïng the confusion which leads to his lone defence of Merry and Pippin against the
orcs, and his death. Of good choices, one ofthe best is Aragom's who, after BoromV's death and the
abduction of Merry and Pippin by the orcs, decides, once he laiows that Frodo and Sam have crossed
the river in their continuation of the quest, not to follow Frodo but to attempt to Save Meny and
Pippin fiom the tomire of the orcs. This choice leads to his victory at the Pelennor fields. As well
it leads to the extreme importance of his reveaiing of himself to Sauron as the heir of Elendil, thus
distracMg the Dark Lord's attention fkom his own lands, where two hobbits will soon throw all his
power into the Fire. Boromir could have significantly altered his fate by choosing to abide by the
quest, and Aragom might have doomed al1 of Gondor and the free peoples by accompanying Frodo
into Mordor.
Thus we can (tentatively) corne to an adequate concept of fate and doom in "From dark
Dunbamow" by adherhg to the following: both are similar, as irnplied by their roots; "fate" comes
fiom '20 speak" and c'doom" comes from 90 judge." Thus fate relates to what has been spoken,
ostensibly, before the deed is done. But "doom" is less temporally stringent in that it seems to be
pronounced am, apparently, a choice has been made and executed. But, by Tolkien standards,
according to the Song of the A.inw," 'Tate," which is spoken by the- is arbitrary and does not
appear to "judge" the actions of characters in Middle-earth, so the deed will be accomplished, but
by whom remains to be seen. Convenely, "doom" appears to judge, by their actions, which
characters will receive which fate. This is admittedly a simple overview of those concepts, but it
works well, along with most of the facets of fate and doom already discussed, within The Lord of
the Rings-
So how do these concepts take importance in "From dark Dunharrow," or, as I posed earlier,
how does the word "fate" halfway in the poem affect the importance of "Doom"? Clearly, "fate
before hùn" hints at the pre-spokenness (my term) of fate itself. Also, it is obviously exterior to
Théoden, as an arbitrarily pre-set event should be, as well as not being present with him at Edoras.
Rather, it waits for him at Mundburg and is physically far away fiom him. It also acts as a plausible
echo of "Doom," so that we can tentatively make a claim for, and trace, the growth of sound and
significance that occurs to "Doom," fiom "dim," then "fate." Also, "fate" appears, in the middle of
the poem, at Edoras, which is at the middle of the joumey nom "dark Dunharrow" to "Mundburg
the mighty," increasing the feeling we get of ''tapestry," so to speak. Fate, then, is at the heart, at the
center, of the poern, physically and significantly. It is that which has been spoken. Yet "Doom,"
" In The Silmarillion, Middle-earth is created through the song of the Ainur, and it is this music that dictates the fates of the peoples of the world. The Ainw are, in essence, the gods of Middle-earth and are prominent in The Silmarillion but only rarely hinted at in The Lord of the Rings, and usually only thmugh historical anecdotes. But their Song is, in fact, "fate", and the music seems to foretell the events of Middle-earth more than who wilI accornplish them. Thus the way is open to choice: a given character is not necessarily bound by fate, she can choose, but the choice is often difficult as well as blind. We do not know what cornes of our choices except through hindsight, after the consequences have developed.
52
though it appears also to be exterior, can be accepted as being interior. Analogous altemate clauses
for "Doom drove them on" might be "the storm drove them on" or "the slave-driver &ove them ony"
but other examples might be such as "greed &ove them on" or "need drove them onT9 etc. In the
former cases, the agent is exterior, but in the latter it is interior. So "Doom" can be taken as extenor
or interior, or both. So not only is Théoden driven on by the exterior force of judgement that is
doom, but it is also manifest in him as the choice he has made; his choice also drives him on. As
well, note that "fate before hùn" appears before his "choice," "oaths he had taken," in the poem- And
"Doom drove them on" appears after the choice and the action of riding fiom Edoras to Munburg.
Again, this supports the argument that, due to his choice of fulnlling the oaths, Théoden is driven
by his doom to Munburg, where the "fate" that is 'before him" will become his fate. Also, ironically,
due to his choice "Darkness," in view of the oppositions that 1 noted above as wel1 as the ironic
change of denotation that it undergoes from Sauron's darkness to that of death is aided by Doom.
That is to Say that Doom has taken the side of "Darkness", death, against the "horseman." And to
reiterate what 1 previously said about fate and doom: it was, seemingly, Théoden's faie to die in
battle, bu5 due to his choice to fight at Mundburg, it became his doom to die in battle at Mundburg.
Before 1 continue with the present analysis, however, the time has come to contextualue the
passage within the text of The Lord of the Rings. At the time "From dark Dunharrow" is presented
to us, King Théoden is preparing for the ride east that will take hun and his army to Minas Tirith
(Mundburg), there to assist in the battle of the Pelennor fields. As we h o w , he does this because of
the oaths of Eorl, which apply to him as a descendant of Eorl and King of Rohan. At Minas Tirith,
the siege is about to begin, and Sauron is unieashuig against it a huge m y , that he believes will
53
destroy the chef city of the fkee peoples. In the siq, he has released a massive amount of clouds
which blot out the sun and bring darkness fkom his own realrn to Rohan (thus Dunharrow is "dark">.
He does this because it will bring fear to Men and because his own fou1 creatures are most effective
when the sun is hidden fiom them. The "Éorlingas" themselves have recently fought a battle of their
own, d e f e a ~ g Sanunan at Helm's Deep. For this reason, they are "six thousand" instead of the
"Ten thousand spears 1 might have sent riding over the plain."19 From one battle, barely ended, they
rush headlong into the next If they do not reach Minas Tirith in time, the city of the "Sea-kings" is
doomed, and the West will be enslaved. Yet if they reach it in t h e , Minas Tinth has still only a fair
chance, if that. Further, even if the Men of the West somehow win this battle, the reader is already
aware that they will only have to face another battle, just as momentous, to their certain demise. For
the force that Sauron has assembled is great, but he has greater still. The Steward Denethor says of
"the Power that now arises" (Le. Sauron) that its army is "only the b t finger of its ha~~d,"'~ reaching
out to strike a decisive blow against Minas Tirith, "Mundburg the mighty." "From dark Dunharrow"
is presented to us just as the King reaches Edoras on his way to Minas Tirith, just before he rides out
to his uncertain fate, in an attempt, regardless, to help Save the West.
But the poem is presented to us as a Song written after Sauron is defeated, sung "for many
long lives of men thereafter."2' Sauron is not defeated at the Battle of the Pelennor fields, but
Théoden is killed. His death is actuaiIy caused more than it is carried out by anyone in partïcular.
After his initial ride onto the field, throwing the besieging amies of Mordor into tmmoil, he charges
l9 The Lord of the Rings 832. 'O The Lord of the Rings 887. " The Lord of the Rings 835.
54
against and k i k one of the Southron kings in Sauron's service. But as he raises his sword in victos:
"lo! suddenly in the midst of the glory of the king his golden shield was dllnmed ... Dark fell about
h i n ~ . " ~ The king of the Nazgûl, riding upon a huge flying beast, descended upon him and threw a
poisoned dart. The dart pierced Théoden's hone as it fought with the air in fear. Dying, Snowmane
fell backwards onto his rider, lethaiiy injuring him. Thus "Darkness took themJhorse and hoaeman;
hoofbeats afar/sank into silence" and the oaths are truly "d fulfilied." He is later buried at Edoras.
That we view a piece that is wrîtten in the future, but read it before we know the outcome of
"From dark Dunharrow," presents us with more insight into the poem. Now, for example, we can
be certain that "From dark Dunharrow" is an elegy for Théoden. It is itself ironically placed in the
text, then, since the narrator of the story introduces the poem as a Song about the ride of the Rohimm
( É ~ r l i n ~ a s ) , ~ not so much one about Théoden. Yet the Anglo-saxon infiuences do not lie, and the
fact that his various names appear and reappear in the poem singles him out as the most important
figure in the poem, more important even than the Ride. Also the poem, like OE poetry, is heavily
extra-textualized, and, just as OE audiences would have understood extra-texnial references, so
would the Éorlingas understand those in "From dark Dunharrow." ïhey would know where
"Dunharrow," "Edoras," 'cFolde," "Fenmarch," 4cFirienwood" and "Mundburg" are, and that
"Sunlending" is Gondor. They wouId understand the variations of "Munburg" and that "Mindolluin"
is the mountain on whose flank that city rests. They wodd know that the "golden timbers" are the
" The Lord of the Rings 873. Noticeudim" and '?>a&"once again, carrying dl the connotations of evil, lightlessness and death.
The Lord of the Rines 835. ("and so without hom or harp or music of men's voices the great ride into the East began with which the songs of Rohan were busy for many iong iives of men thereafter.")
55
tirnbers that surround Edoras, its walls. They would know that a 'thane" is a retainer, as well as the
significance of "hearth, high-seat and hallowed pIacesY' (especially as it fin& itself, in an elegy). And
so on. The most important howledge they would have, of course, is that of history: that Théoden
died, and that they remain partiy because of his death. As well, knowing the marner of his death,
they would also grasp the special significance of "hone and horseman," "oaths he had taken" etc ...
Furthemore, the heart of the poem is situated in Edoras, and the poem itself is told
therefiom. Notice that Théoden rides '90 Edoras" fkom 'dark Dunharrow," then "through" Folde and
Fenmarch and ail the rest. And when the hoomeats of Snowmane sink into silence, the poem says
"so the songs tell us," meaning "so it is reported to us," "so it has been told to us." It implies that the
hoofbeats' sinking into silence is something that happened far away £kom where the poem is ideally
being told. It also subtly Mplies that he never returned, for it is the songs that tell: Théoden himself
did not get that chance. Another item that allows us to conclude this is, as with "rode," an omission.
We are told, for example, that Thengel's son rides to Edoras, then through Folde, Fenmarch,
Firienwood. But we are not told that he rides to Munburg. The grammar indicates that he rides
through it. The text says "six thousand spears to Sunlending," but to assume that this, perforce,
includes Théoden might be a mistake. In the lay-out above, it is clear that the subject of the sentence
"Forth rode Théoden," at the be*Oinning of line 12, is Théoden. But that sentence ends and yields to
the next which wiU span lines 12 to 18 with "Éorlingas" as subject. The poem, then is working on
two levels: "~orl in~as" is a variation of 'Théoden," but, as an increasingly less specific or persona1
one (its next manifestation is "horseman"), it also separates him fiom the Éorlingas. From these two
sentences, in the form 1 have presented them, we get the distinct impression that Théoden rides with
56
the Éorlingas. As well as being one of the- he has been centered out, fionted and thus separated
fiom the group. Token seems to want to imply that Théoden is riding tu Darkness, that his
destination is not solely an exterior, geographical one, but also one that is interior and personal. And,
whether or not it is intentionai (though in Tolkien's case, 1 am rather inclined to think that it was),
the poem is open-ended as fa. as Théoden's final destinaiion, as the only place he ever cornes tu (for
he "came to" it) is Edoras. The fact th& he is later buried there may very well be another of the
poem's chronological ironies.
Therefore, we have been served, in the midst of a story that was written for us, the modem
readers, with a poem that the Anglo-Saxons would have immediately understood better. It is, in a
way, an insider poem and we are let in, part of the way, if we have paid attention to the names of
places as they surface in the story. The Éorlingas talle about Mundburg, Edoras, Dunharrow, Folde
and Fenmarch, and later on, they are guided through the Firienwood by the Wild Men more extra-
texnial data. But some of the words, like Sunlending, are difficult to dot, and the reference to "Sea-
kings" is obscure to one who hasnyt read The Siharillion or the appendices of The Lord of the
Rings. We are shown a staunch, epic elegy or dirge for Théoden, before he even rides out for Minas
Tirith, and, unless we read it closely, we do not recognize it as such.
A Note on Old English Lexis in "From dark Dunhamow in the dim Moniingy'
Fittingly, perhaps, the poem contains many old English words, or words derived firom Old
57
English, and these help to e ~ c h the theme of the poem. For example, ''Duuharrow" is derived fkom
Old English "dh hearg,"24 where "dim"'='WT or "rnountain'md 4bhearg"=C'sanctuary, temple,
altar." So Théoden leaves what we may call the bbmountain-sanctuary," at the beginning of the poem,
when he xides out of Dunhamw. In the book, it is where those people of Rohan, who c a ~ o t take
part in the war, go to seek shelter while their army is away, and it is their 1s t refuge, shodd their
soldiers be defeated. But it is interesthg to note that, on hÏs way to tumult, Théoden leaves a place
of peace or "sanctuary." That it is on a mountain, and is thus nearer "heaven,"@es it the aspect of
a kind of paradise, as though the King's departure fkom Dunharrow is symbolic of his leaving a kind
of innocence or quienide, or, rather, a happiness; that is, he leaves the happiness of the "eorlingas"
which resides with them in Dunharrow, or, more generally, in Rohan. But, since he is a part of this
"happiness," his departure from its dwelling-place inflicts a marked diminishment upon it, as the end
of the poem seerns to indicate.
The word "théoden," itself, means " h g of a people" as 1 rnentioned above, or, as the
Concise Ando-Saxon Dictionary says, it means "chief of a tribe, d e r , prince, king."3 This fact
allows us to add to the apparent lexical diminution of Théoden in the poem. In fact, throughout the
first half, his lexical power, as it were, acnially increases. Note that he leaves the "mountain-
sanctuary" as 'cThengel's son," but it is only when he rides forîh fkorn Edoras that he is named "the
king." It is notable that ''Thengel" means "king," for Théoden starts the poem as the king's son and
it is only once he leaves Edoras that he is acknowledged in the poem as being "the King." This is not
'' Ruth S. Noel, The Lanrma-s of Tolkien's Middle-earth (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980) 24.
'5 Hall 358.
58
to Say that it is not implicit in the poem that Théoden is the king of Rohan, but it is not made explicit
in the poem that Théoden = king until he leaves Edoras, in line 9. Then, in line 12, he is finally
named, 'Théoden" ''king of a people7' but only after "Fealty kept he;/ oaths he had taken, al1
fidfilled them." And, as he is named "Théoden," he has accomplished all the requirements, not oniy
of a king, but of a noble one, or even one of legend It is of the utmost importance that, for his
people, he keeps feaky with Gondor and fulfills the oaths of Eorl and Cirion, as 1 have said above,
and since the poem is written for the "Eorhgas," or those acquainted with them, the meaning of
"oaths he had taken, al1 fulfilled them7' wouid not be lost on them. That is to Say that he is named
by his own personal name just at that point of the poem where it enters into the iegendas, or the
historically great. And his action, to ride forth and fulnll the oaths to accept his destiny, is itself
heroic to the point where he cease to be only "Thengel's son" andor "the king" (as there are good
and bad, skiued and inept kings) and is named "Théoden," "king of a people," in honour. Or, rather,
to ride fiom "dark DunhmowY7 into Edoras, any "king" could have done; he is 'Théoden" the hero
only when he leaves, on his appointed path.
Notice also that "Forth rode Théoden" is a single, complete sentence, right at the very heart
of the poem. It is the fifth complete sentence in the poem and acts as a transition point, ending the
coming to and departure fkom Edoras and beginning the Ride sequence, the latter being fully
contained within one complete sentence, kom Iine 12 to h e 17. Once again, it is not coincidence
on Tolkien's part. Much is intemvined in that h o t (''Forth rode Théoden7'), such as the Nmmit of
his identity in the poem as well as the descent which irnmediately proceeds fiom it, and the ending
of, as it were, the introduction to the problem of the poem and the beginning of its dénouement.
59
But it is when the poem continues and, in line 13, says "onward rode the Eorlingas," that we
are presented with his acnüil diminishment. And we can view that diminishment in two ways; eitha
the king is seen as one of his people and is thus served with a lesser rank, or he has effectively
disappeared fkom the lexis of the poem. Either way, it appears to be symbolic of his passage out of
life and into legend and death. Indeed, "théoden" is derived fkom 'théod" which means "people."
And where %éoden" means "king of a people," "Eorhgas" means '?he people of Eorl", in the
poem and in The Lord of the Rings, or "people of a king" in Old English, since "'Eorl" = "leader,
chie& prince, nobleman." Thus we may Say that both 'Théoden" and "Eorlingas" are woven into the
one word, "Eorlingas," and that Théoden thus becomes anonymous, as we would expect of someone
who dies if at least in the eyes of Death. Perhaps it is also that, at this point, Théoden has already
accomplished his most heroic feat, by mustering the forces of Rohan and riding out to the aid of
Gondor, especiaily since this codd certaidy entail the destruction of not oniy himseIf, but of al1 his
people. He has faced the fear of his time and has Nen to action against the evil that was its cause.
And since has done the "right thing," he need no longer be directiy referred to. That is, his actual,
physicai death, is no more than an addendum a minor event as far as his heroism is concerned and
his physical presence in the poem is thus allowed to diminish. In any case, his lexical absence also
signifies his absence nom the lives of the Eorlingas and, though it is a mark of his greatness, the
eaming of that greatness inevitably gives them a deep sense of loss for, even though his death is
secondary to his setting out, it is also fated.
The h a 1 phase of Théoden's lexical diminishment takes place, of course, at the end of the
poem where he is ambiguously mentioned as c'honeman". As 1 mentioned above, this could mean
60
Théoden or the riders as a collective. In a sense, it U the collective and it is Théoden, for the very
same reasons as in the above paragraph; in a sense the nders' collective is lost when their king is lost,
and thus the whole army is change4 or, rather, 'Théoden" + "Eorlingas" = "Eorlingas" is not the
same once Théoden is 10a This, 1 admit, may seem to be a stretch; however "Doom &ove thern on.
Darkness took them, ... hoofbeats afar/sank into silence" need not be temporally placed at the battIe
of the Pelennor fields. It is entirely plausible that Toikien intended the poem to speak of the whole
Rohirrim army, with Thengel's son at their head, as heroic and as something that has long since
vanished in time. However, rny own belief is that we take this possible option into consideration
because nothing prevents it fÎom being untrue, and it is quite possible that Tolkien intended it as a
third rneaning, intemvined with the other two and very much part of the poem.
Yet this is also an important point where "dom" and "doman" are concemed, especially
where they may be taken as "opinion": "It too meant in early times what was spoke about you, what
people said about you (especially when you were dead)."'6 Where ccDoorn" or what people said
about them d e r they were dead, as a partial meaning of that word %ove them on" there is an
undertone, at least, of the positive light in whch ''them" is seen. There is the sense, of course, that
what happened to the '%orseman" was rneant to bey but we can add to it the certainty of his being
well spoken of after his death. However, the positive doorn, as it were, is balanced with the lexical
diminishrnent of Théoden. So, though the poem seems to achowledge his choice, it does not
celebrate it. Rather, it seems to revere it, for the diminishment of Théoden displays a grave mood.
It is acknowledgement that he must die, of course. For his choice is death. It is like the choice of
l6 Shippey 225.
61
Beowulf, for they are similar in that they both die in batîie with a "dragon" (rnetaphoricaily, the black
mount of the Nazgûl even the Nazgul himself can be seen as such). And thus the air of the poem
resembles that of Beowulf, the way Tolkien saw it, 'Tlefeat is the theme. Triumph over the foes of
man's precarious fortress is over, and we approach slowly and reluctmtly the inevitable victory of
death."" Thus Théoden triumphed on the Pelennor, but he also died there, and there he met his own
"dragon."
Note that the poem does not once mention his age, but, in the story, the reader is made
acutely aware that Théoden is an old man :
Upon it sat a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf; but his white haïr was so long and thick and fell in great brai& fÏom beneath a thin golden circlet set upon his brow.(II
Certainly, that fact is irnplicit in the poem if only because of the text that surromds it but it is
never made explicit. Théoden could have any age, in this poem. He could even be mistaken as
young, when he is named 'Thengel's son." But it is more accurate, I believe, to Say that he is
"ageless" in the poem. The ''ThengeI's son7' "the kingy' 'Théoden" ("king of a people")
progression does not, then, refer to his age but to a cycle. And that cycle is the progression of
boyhood into rnanhood into, in this case, the heroic.
Another important borrowing fkom OE is the name "Edoras." Edoras is where the king's hall
is situated and it is very much like an Anglo-saxon mead-hall. Yet the name itself means
" 'The Monsten and the Cntics" and Other Essays 30. The Lord of the Rings 952.
62
"dwelhgs" or ''places enclosed by a barrier."z9 But Toikien himself gave the definition of "Edoras"
as 'Yhe court^.'"^ Hence he may have changed or evolved the meaning fiom its Anglo-saxon
equivdents. The word ''Edoras" I codd not find in any Anglo-saxon dictionary as it appears in the
text, but what I did f b d is worth mentioning. The words 1 found to be related to "Edoras" are 1)
"edo" which is related to a) "eodor" "hedge, boundary: limit, region, zone: enclosure, folci,
dwelbg, house: prince, lord,"31 and b) "éowde" 'Yiock, herd: sheepfold,'"' as weIi as c) "ora":
" 1: 'border, bank, shore' or ii: 'ore, unwrought metal. Thus it should not be surprising that, for
"edoras," "the courts" should only be a small part of the meaning. Many different collages are
possible with the words we have. "Edoras" cm be the "golden border" or "gilded sheepfold" or a
"hedge (enclosure, house, dweliing) of gold" and so on. Furthemore, though it is not "crude" as
such, the possible reference to "ore," as something unwrought and natural, as opposed to pure gold,
tempered and shaped, is concomitant with the differences between the Rohirrim and the people of
Gondor, respectively. The people of Gondor, or the Dunedain, have deeper knowledge in al1 crafts
and science, as a result of their contact with the Gods of Middle-earth. The Rohirrim, on the other
hand, never received this boon, hence their obviously more innocent and n a d state of existence.
I9 Noel 25. 30 The Lord of the Rings 1 170. j' Hall 105. 3"~11 107. j3 Hall 268.
Chapter 2:
Face, Impiicature and Speech Acts in the Meeting Between Gandalf and Beorn
In the Introduction, I showed a few examples of "face-work" and "implicature," as well as
explaining the "cooperative principle." Another important facet, when considering conversation (and
thus to this work), appears to be seized upon, but is well displayed, by Gancialf and Bilbo in the first
few pages of The Hobbit, and it is one that John R. Searle would attempt to clarih years later.
Consider the following passage:
"Good m o ~ n g ! " said Bilbo, and he meant i t The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long, bushy eyebrows that stuck out m e r than the brim of his shady hat.
'What do you mean'?" he said. 'Do you wish me a good mornïng, or mean that it is a good moming whether 1 want it or not; or that you feel good this moming; or that it is a moming to be good on?'
"Al1 of them at once," said ~ i l b o . ~
SO, by the utterance "good morning," Bilbo is asked by Gandalf whether he means
1) '1 wish you a good moming." 2) "This is a good moming (whether you want it'to be, or not)." 3) '1 feel good this morning (therefore it is a good morning)."
or 4) 'This is a morning to be good on (therefore it is a "good" as opposed to "evil" moming).
Bilbo seems to realize that, although al1 four utterances are different from each other in meaning,
they al1 have the same "propositional content"': "good moming." That is, whatever meaning "pod"
may have, or whichever unspoken verb phrase, such as 'Vus is" or "1 wish you (a)", is attached to
it, the proposition "good moming" is universal to al1 of them.
Bilbo also points out one function or meaning of "good morning" that Gandalf did not
include in his enurneration, after he has been "asked" whether he wants to take part in an advennire:
"Good moming!" he said at 1 s t . 'We don't want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The ~ a t e r . " ~
Gandalf promptly catches the gist of what BiIbo is saying, as well as infemng another meaning for
the phrase "good morning," and utters the same kind of remark:
"What a lot of things you do use Good morning for!" said Gandalf. 'Wow you mean that you
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (London: George Ailen and Unwin, 1937) 5-6. ' John R. Searle, "What is a Speech Act?" Lanmaee and Social Context, ed. Pier Paolo Giglioli
(London: Penguin Books, 1990) 140- 1. ' The Hobbit 6.
65
want to get rid of me, and that it won't be good till 1 move off.'*
What both Bilbo and Gandalf have uttered are "indirect speech acts." This time, by "good moming,"
Bilbo is really requesting "go away," while GandalPs whole response accompiishes the function of
"1 will not!" Searle's concem is with how we know the underlying messages that Bilbo and Gandalf
have just exchanged and how we h o w that they are there at aii. How do we arrive at the right
concIusion? One way is to use Grice's d e s of implicanire. For example, by giving Gandalf
directions on where to find someone for his adventure, Bilbo has flouted maxirn lb, "Do not make
your contribution more informative than is required," and by doing so he has implied that the Wizard
should leave him alone. But Searle gives us a different approach, which it is useful for us to review.
He utilizes Gricean maxims to the extent that he observes the use of the cooperative pnnciple during
conversation. That is, he postdates that when two or more speakers are engaged in conversation,
they are ail, presumably, abiding by it. But he adds a few things regarding speech acts and indirect
speech acts which can help not only in the case of implicature but also with other illocutionary acts,
such as requests, that are accomplished indirectly.
The fint tool that he provides us with is one which helps divide "indirect requests" into two
parts. Each such structure has a point of "illocutionary force" and a point of literal "illocutionary
meaning." Respectively, he names them the "primary illocutionary act" and the "secondary
illocutionary act." Hence, the pnmary illocutionary act of "good moming" is a directive: 'go away";
and the secondary illocutionary act is tnùy a wish for Gandalf to have a good morning. Bilbo did not
Say "good morning" only for the purpose of telling Gandalf to leave, but he also does wish him a
"good morning," inasmuch as any of us do when we make use of that phrase. He performs both
' The Hobbit 6.
actions, not just one.
However. the most interesting statement which Searle makes, and which he leaves
undefended and unexplaineci, is: 'Tn directives, politeness is the chief motive for indirectness.'" 'This
is important because it means that we use indirect speech acts. as well as implicature, for face-
maintenance as part of our requirement to be considerate. To illustrate how d l three theories Face,
Cooperative RinciplelImpiicanire, Indirect Speech Acts can work together in analysis, I shall
continue with Bilbo's "good moming" ("go away"). Notice that he is showing himself as poiite as
he possibly can, when he goes so far as to suggest where Gandalf might find a participant in his
adventure as opposed to simply shooing the old man off. Clearly, he sees Gandalf s offer of
adventure as inappropriate, but feels that his own response should at least appear polite. But Gandalf
never actuaily offered him anytiung, not even a role in his "adventure":
'Very pretty!" said Gandalf. "But I have no time to blow smoke-rings this morning. I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone." '7 should think so in these parts! We are plain quiet foik and have no use for adventures.
Nasty dishirbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dimer! 1 can't think what anybody sees in thern," said our Mr Baggins, and stuck one thumb behind his braces, and blew out another even bigger smoke-ring. Then he took out his morning letters, and began to read, pretending to take no more notice of the old man. He had decided that he was not quite his sort, apd wanted him to go away. But the old man did not rnove. He stood leaning on his stick and gazing at the hobbit without saying anything, till Bilbo got quite uncomfortable and even a littie cross.
'Good morning!" he said at last.6
There is a great deal happening here, but I will not go over it aU, in deference to the passage 1 wish
to scrutinize, below. However, it will help to illustrate how the three theones (Face, Cooperative
John R. Searle, "Indirect Speech Acts," Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theow of Speech Acts (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversiS. Press, 1979) 36.
The Hobbit 6.
Principle, Indirect Speech Acts) can work together in analysis.
The narrator traces some of the logic of the conversation for us when he says of Bilbo that
he "had decided that he was not quite his sort." This is avoidance, on Mr Baggins's part, of the
underlying fact that he is deeply afraid of "adventures." He wants Gandalf to go away primarily
because he represents the potential for such a thing to take place. Furthermore, his fear of adventure
is so great that he treats Gandalf' s statement about looking for an adventurer as an indirect request
for him to go! The Wizard's primary illocution is ambivalent, to Say the least; "1 am looking for
someone to take part in an adventure" hardly constitutes a request for Bilbo to volunteer himself for
it. Bilbo seems to believe that Gandalf has flouted maxim l b (Quality: do not Say more...), and, since
he is still participating in the conversation, that he has implied that he wants to remit him. In fact,
Gandalf has violated the maxim, but only because Bilbo is a bit of a snob and a coward: adventures
don? interest hirn (he says) and, thus, to mention them is to Say more than is required for the
purposes of the conversation, and it is rather disturbing as well. Moreover, by flouting the same
maxim, himeIf, Bilbo intends Gandalf to understand that he should leave without considering him
funher. Yet his motive for flouting the maxim, instead of shouting "Not me: bugger off!" for
reasons of face, if not for the maintenance of an expressive order are those of politeness. However,
his reaction to Gandalf is nothing of the sort and they only serve to draw the Wizard's attention to
him,' rather than shield hirn from it.
' Unfinished Tales 322-3. His appearance at bag End that day was not really a coincidence, however. In Unfinished Tales he says "Somehow I had been attmcted by Bilbo long before, as a child, and a young hobbit: he had not quite corne of age when I had last seen him. He had stayed in my mind ever since, with his eagemess and his bright eyes, and his love of tales, and his questions about the wide world outside the Shire. As soon as 1 entered the Shire I heard news of hirn ... but I went off at once to have a look at Bilbo, to see what tweoty years had done to him, and whether he was as promishg as gossip seemed to make out." This is spoken, temporally and historically, after
68
By saying 'Wasty disturbing ...... what anybody sees in them," he plainly purposes to end the
conversation. He makes this clear by very rudely opting out of the conversation and picking up his
morning letters. He expects Gandalf to cooperate with this and be on his way, and celtainly a hearer
who had understood s/he was asked to leave might do so. But Gandalf does not do so. Rather, he
chooses to ignore the primary illocution and opts for the second, which is that Bilbo is just trying
to be helpful. But Bilbo's problem is that he has, in effect, attxked Gandalf s face. Although the
Wizard has not said whether he is going to take part in the adventure that he is organizing,
presumably to organize an adventure one must "sec" something in them. So Bilbo rnight as weil
have said '4 can't think what you see in them." He implies, whether knowingly or not, that Gandalf
is not a sensible chap, wanting to organize such a 'hasty disturbing uncornfortable" thing. He might
as well have said to Picasso that representational landscapes are the only m e form of art! Consider
"We are plain folk and have no use for adventures" it has several implications. If we alter the
sentence to a more polite "we are plain folk and not very adventurous," he would not have threatened
Gandalf's face at ail. Obviously, Bilbo does not even deign to consider this but is indirect, as Searle
says, for reasons of politeness. He wishes, on the surface, to appear polite, but he has committed a
faux pas: he has offered his opinion, and that is never a polite thing to do with a stranger and
especially one who rnight like that which you younelf would deprecate. Perhaps he takes Gandalf
for an idiot and doesn't think he'll notice? At the very least he violates the maxirn of Quantity, lb,
and, by saying 'We .... have no use for adventures," he implies that they are 'iiseless," serving no
practical purpose for 'plain" or, rather, sensible and respectable folk. Certainly, "plain" is ambiguous
in the present context and does not seem to stand for what we normally wodd expect it to. And in
designating himself as such (which he does indirectly, by association) as well as people who have
the War of the Ring both in Middle-earth and in our own time.
69
"no use for adventures," since Gandalf is so clearly interested in such things, he obviously excludes
the Wiard from this elite group. So Gandalf, quite suddedy, is interested in useless and impractical
things, as well as not k i n g especially respectable or sensible. if we are to believe Bilbo.
I hope that thus far 1 have provided an adequate example of how 1 shdl utilùe
Face/Cooperative RincipIelIndirect Speech Act theories. 1 do not use them separately but together.
OveralI, the study below will concern itself with face in general, but because of the high importance
of politeness with regards to it, and because the cooperative principle and indirect speech acü play
such a key role in the practice of politeness in conversation, 1 must utilize these latter two to provide
further depth for the insights provided by face theory. Therefore 1 proceed with the assumption that
not only are they inter-connecte4 like psychology and neurobiology for example, but they are
complementary. That is, by analyzing how Gandalf and Company go about establishing and u p
keeping an expressive order through Grice's and Searle's theories, we will attain a wider, fuller
understanding of the complexity of the interaction which the nanator depicts, as well as his
considerable ski11 in doing so.
The passage that 1 shall now tum my attention to is to be found in The Hobbit, Chapter W:
"Queer Lodgings," and it spans pages 107 through 114.1 do not include it in full here, but have set
it out in Appendix A, primarily because of its lenoa. The analysis will base itself primarily on those
instances where there is an intemption in the exchange between Gandalf and Beorn, since this is
where most of the important speech action occurs. The passage opens with "Afier a while, they
came to a belt of very ta11 and very ancient oaks." At this time, Gandalf and Bilbo are about to
approach Beom in the hope that he may offer them and their cornpanions some much needed help.
70
However, Beom is not at all aware, at fmt, that Gandalf and Bilbo have any cornpanions at dl, that
there are thirteen, in fact, and that they are all dwarves. On Gandalfs advice, they originally remain
well out of sight, waiting for his signal that they should begin approaching Beom's abode in pain,
every five minutes. The rasons for this apparentiy complicated plan are quite simple. F i t , Beom
does not happily accept guests at dl and therefore must be allowed to wann up to hem slowly.
Secondly, they have lost ai1 their stores in a prior altercation with Goblins and cannot risk being
huned away iike "suspicious beggm." They may well die of starvation, leaving their quest
unfinished if they do not receive his ai& since there is no other source of help anywhere nearby.
Other important contextual information about Beom, which makes the situation delicate, is
that he is a "skin changer." That is, sometimes he is a bear and somerimes he is a big, burly man.
- And, according to Gandalf, he does not eat meat at dl, but lives on honey and f i t . In fact his
reverence for animals is so great that many serve him of their own will, such as the horses at the
beginning of the passage. Certainly, to mention an occupation such as 'Y~nier,"~ would bnng
disaster upon the whole Company. Furthemore, we should remember that Thorin, the leader of the
Dwarven contingent, is the heir of kings, though he does not presently sit on any throne, and has al l
the pnde of one. Hence, there exisü an element of instability as Gandalf and Bilbo approach Beom
for the very fmt time.
Bilbo provides us with Gandaif s plan of action, however, after the scene is finished. 1 quote
his insight here:
Mr Baggins saw then how clever Gandalf had been. The intemiptions had really made Beom
* The Hobbit 106.
more interested in the story, and the story had kept him h m sending the dwarves off at once like suspiciou beggars. He never invited people into his house, if he codd help it. He had very few friends and they lived a good way away; and he never invited more than a couple of these to his house at a time. Now he had got fifieen strangers sitting on his porch!'
Hence, Gandalf will more or less trick Beom into allowing fifteen guests into his home. by offering
him a story and introducing them slowly. The numerous introductions that this makes necessary will
cause intemiptions in the story, which will annoy Beom more than the fact that more guests have
anived. Thus he will forego rejecting them and, hopefidly, he will also offer his help. That is the
Wizard's plan. But as we shall see. there is much fancy fwtwork, or face-work, to be done at every
in temp tion.
Here is the first intemption sequence:
"I was comîng over the mountains with a fnend or two ..." said the Wizard. "Or two? 1 cm only see one, and a iinle one at that," said Beom. 'bWell to tell you the truth, 1 did not like to bother you with a lot of us, until 1 found out if you were busy. 1 will give a cal if 1 may."
Beom's objections to Gandalf s story are always bom from the concem of numbers or
exactitude. In this case he questions Gandalf's statement about being with "a fhend or WO." Notice
what GandaIf does, however, through his enuneration: in the fmt instance, he violates Gnce's
maxim la (make your contribution as informative as is required), and, in the second, he fiouts
maxim 4b (avoid ambiguity) since "a fiend or two" could very well mean '"many friends." He is
deliberately being nebulous. not only because of the number of dwarves that he wiil have to
introduce, but because he knows how important that amount will be to Beom. Hence, he must keep
his host in a mild state of confusion. If you recall Grice's definition of when a maxim is flouted to
produce implicature, he is quite clear of the fact that no other rnaxim has been violated by the
The Hobbit 1 14.
72
flouting statement But this is what Gandalf has done, and so we cannot Say that he tnily implies that
more guests are coming; that is, he has not done so in a way that it is clear to Beom that he has done
so. In Beom's mind then, Gandalf must be treating the issue of numbers, either with a kind of
laissez-faire or carelessness, or he is implying that another guest is coming. Hence, his intemption's
main function is to elicit clarification from Gandalf. Note that "Or two?" is an indirect speech act
which says "you are not king clear as to how many companions are with you and you must clarify
that,"
It is, of course, his right within the h e of the expressive order to intempt the story for at
least three good reasons. First, they are in his house and he is Lord there, so to speak. Also, Gandalf
has asked for his help, therefore he is in the position of helper. That is, he is now one who decides
of othen who request his help whether or not they are worthy of it. So, for the moment, he can rest
on his statu as "Lord and helper" to intempt Gandalf's story whenever he wishes to do so; unless
the line he is trying to maintain (such as k ing a courteous host) becomes threatened by such
behavior. Thirdly, Gandalf has treated an important detail with less than satisfactory thoroughness,
as story teller, and that is the number of his companions. This is perhaps the most important facet
of the whole exchange, as Bilbo will later perceive.
An important observation can be made at this point. Before Gandalf even begins to tell his
taie, Beom asks him to do so with the adrnonition that "it won't take too long." He does not Say '9
have to plant ten rows in my orchard, first," or any other such thing which rnight delay the
beginning of the story. He is living on a farm and, therefore, he presumably has important chores to
do everyday, which should supercede a story. For example, Bilbo and the Wizard find him "leaning
73
on a large axe."1° Unless he is the Green Knight, he has been using the axe to chop wood, as is
indicated by the sentence that States that %ere was lying a great oak-trunk with many lopped
branches beside9'Beom's home. Thus he had been working on something that probably requires more
work, at the time Gandalf and Company make their appearance. Yet, as we see, he wants to hear the
story immediately, and that is not mere coincidence. It gives us an important clue into Beom's tastes:
he seems to love a good story, especiaIly if it could involve Goblins' misfortunes. So we cm
conclude that he really does want to hear Gandalfs story, or that he is at least curious about it h m
the start, though he will not take that line as far as face is concemed-
Also, it should be noted that there is another reason for which Gandalf s statement about "a
friend or two," is clearly not implicature. In this case, Gandalf is te lhg a story. He is the designated
speaker and Beom is the designated listener, as it were. And because it is a story, and not a
conversation, the designated listener and the designated speaker have an agreement together which
can be stated as follows: "the speaker will tell and the listener will 'believe'." It is widely
acknowledged that, when a fictional story is told, Listeners (or readers) "suspend" their disbelief in
what the narrator is saying. But the same suspension of disbelief takes place when the speaker is
telling a "true story" but, in this case, it is usually cded "belief." That is, the same exercise takes
place whether the story is fictitious or not; there is some kind of belief that is on loan to the
designated speaker, whether temporady or permanently.
1 will illustrate Tolkien's own framework to make my point. When asked about his stories,
and fairy tales in general, Tolkien maintained that they are ccsub-creations."
'O The Hobbit 108.
74
But in such 'fantasy', as it is called, new fom is made; Faërie begins; Man becomes a sub- creator. An essential power of Faërie is thus the power of making immediately effective by the will the visions of 'fantasy'."
T'us, in the creation of fairy tales, fantasy, or fiction we are sub-creators. It follows, then, that when
we lend our belief to such sub-creations that it is "sub-belief" or, as Tolkien calls it, "Secondary
Belief." We do not believe stories like we believe that the sky is blue or that snow is cold and white,
things we know to be tnie in the 'Primary World"(as in that created by God, as Tolkien maintained).
But we do believe a story that has 'Vie inner consistency of reality."" in a slightly different way me we believe some of our dreams when they are happening) and that is secondary belief.
But because of the existence of this secondary belief, the emphasis of the cooperative
principle is allowed to change. Thus the designated speaker is aiiowed, or even expected, to "lie" or
tell a "lay," as it were. If s/he is reciting fiction, and the audience is aware that it is fiction, then slhe
is allowed to violate rnaxim 2 (Quality) in its entirety. But this is so, as Tolkien observe& only
extemally; intemally, the story must remain "tnie'to itself and respect the maxims, just as they rnust
be respected in reality. This becomes part of the pledge that seemingly underlies every telling of a
story: "1 will tell you a good story (one that you will like)." That is, in order to elicit the designated
hearer's secondary beiief, the designated speaker's story must contain the "inner consistency of
reality," that is, be consistent within itself. For example. if a speaker desires that hislher story be
'innerly' consistent, then slhe cannot Say "I was riding a g ~ y elephant" then, within the same story,
refer to the same elephant as "my pink elephant" or "rny horse," without contextualising for the
audience or providing a logical reason for this change. Thus the Gricean maxims are no longer
" "The Monsters & the Critics" and Other Essavs 122. " "The Monsters & the Critics" and Other Essavs 13 8.
75
strictly used for implicanire. extemally. And, we can see that Gandalf, by uttering "a h d or two,"
is not implying anything about his listener to himself, or even about the characten within the story.
What he has done, instead, is violate the pledge '7 wül tell you a good story," since he has deprïved
it, in the matter of how many cornpanions accompanied him. of inner consistency. Beom is aware
of this violation because he sees two people before hm, and the W i z d whose story is supposedly
'%rue," has just told him that he was with "a fnend or two." It does not necessarily follow that
something that is not "good" is "bad," but, in the case of stories and storytelling, it is usually one or
the other. So according to Beorn, at this point, Gandalf is probably q-dte close to telling him a bad
story; and who wants to hear a bad story?
This leads me to a further point. A story-teller who violates the "good story" maxim does it
in two ways: either consciously or unconsciously. That is she does it on purpose or by accident. On
the one han& dhe is raking hisher listener for a fool, not respecting the listener's ability to discem
between a good story and a bad one(such as certain "sit-coms" on television), thus attacking the
listener's face; while on the other hand, s/he is endangering hidher own positive face. especiaily if
the listener is aware of hislher blunder, and the Listener may then lose interest, laugh at the narrator,
or conscientiously attempt to remedy the situation (if that is possible to do without M e r harming
the story-teller's face). Beom, however, is not about to be taken for a fooi. But at the same Mie, he
certainiy wants to hearthe story. So he does not irnmediately eject his 'helpees," as it were, but gives
Gandalf an opportunity to Save face. Notice that despite his apparently poor mannen, he has done
so conscientiously; and he has used his right as "helper" to intemipt the Wizard's oration, thus
avoiding a scenario where his intended correction might become an insult or counter-insult, and
protecting the Wizard's story-teller face. Gandalf then accepts the oppominity to Save face by saying
76
c'well...I did not like to bother you with a lot of us," which, oddly enough, Beom allows to pass. (He
could easily have said "'a lot' of you! You call three a lot?") He does so because of the expressive
order, which has also changed so that the story-telier is given the fioor and the designated Listener
voluntady relinquishes it, and because to destmy it is to go without the story. Also, he has received
an offering from Gandalf and to question it would mean that he doubts its sincerity, which would
dso be dangerous to the expressive order. He then signals his acceptance of Gandalf s offering by
saying "Go on, call away." He is not completely appeased, however, and displays it when he says
"one or three, you mean!" Notice, again, that numbers are his primary concem, and that it seems as
though he rnay be making the point to satisQ himself, although he does score a minor point against
Gandaif's face. This is done indirectly, through impiicanire. He is flouting Quantity, giving more
information than is required (in this case stating the obvious). Also, he models "one or three" after
Gandalf s "a fiend or two." The implication, then, seems to be that, so far, his story has not been
a good one. But it may be avoidance: he may simply be joking. poking fun at his guest. This allows
both faces to avoid the danger of king lost or attacked.
However, he soon realizes that Gandalf has omitted another detail in the story:
"But these aren't hobbits, they are d~arves!" '~
The dwarves, Thorin and On, make an offering on behaif of Gandalf by introducing themselves.
This, in mie dwarvish fashion, is done by offering one's family's, as well as one's own, "service."
It is also good rnanners to reply in kind." However, Beom does not appear to place much importance
'' The Hobbit 1 10. I4 The Hobbit 9.
As in Bilbo's fint meeting with the dwarves, reciprocity of the offering of service is 'proper": "Balin at your senrice!" he said with his hand on his breast. "Thank you!" said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to Say ...
in this, as evidenced by his reply:
"1 don't need your service, thank you," said Beorn, "but I expect you need mine. 1 am not over fond of dwarves; but if it is tme you are Thorin (son of 'Ihrain, son of Thror, I believe), and that your cornpanion is respectable, and that you are enemies of goblins and are not up to any mischief in my lands what are you up to, by the way?'"
Hence, whether he does so consciously or not, he is king mildly nide by taking their greeting
literally and refusing their "service" or, more to the point, their fnendship. It does appea. to be a
conscious statement, however, in light of his statement about not king "over fond of dwarves."
They do not get a chance to be offended, however, since he offers "'but if it is mie..." seemingly to
Say to them that they can stay, or that he accepts their presence, though he has said "if," not "since."
But he suspends his action, in accordance with this "if," when he utten "bat are you up to by the
way?"
Notice the function of that speech act It is not simply asking the dwarves what they are going
to be doing in his lands, but due to its phrasing, it has an apparently negative connotation. There is
implicature, here, but it is not descriptive of the dwarves. Rather, it is descriptive of Beom. He has
flouted maxim 4 6 "Be orderly," because he interrupts himself about to give his conditional consent
to Thorin's presence in his home, then takes a logical step backward and wants to know what they
are "up to" in his lands. He has deliberately broken the natural logic of his Stream of discourse to
imply 'trait one minute! Perhaps 1 am trusting you too soon. Why are you here?" In other words,
though his secondary illocution is in fact a query about what the dwarves are doing in his temtory,
and "Kili at your service!" said the one, "and FiIi!" added the other, and they both swept off their blue hoods and bowed. "At yours and your family's!" repiied Bilbo, remembering his manners this tirne.
'' The Hobbit 1 10.
78
his primary illocution is an expression of suspicion. He is willing to lend them his trust, but it is only
on loan to them until someone answers his question in a satisfactory manner.
ûandalf offen an answer to the question, paying heed to the secondary illocution but not to
the fmt. By doing so, he attempts to re-establish the tellerfistener relationship:
"'They are on their way to visit the land of their fathers, away east beyond Mirkwoo d"... "and it is entirely an accident that we are in your lands at ail. We were crossing by the High Pass that should have brought us to the road that lies to the south of your country, when we were attacked by the evil goblins as 1 was about to tell you."
Gandaif has sectioned his response into three major parts. First, he mentions the group's purpose,
"They are on their way ... Mirkwood," thus informing Beom of what they are "up to." He disqualifies
any intent on the part of the dwarven party by M e r supplying "it is ... an accident ... at dl."
Secondly, now that he has answered Beom's prima facie question, he adds more information by
slipping back into the story: "we were crossing ...g oblins." This is not only a surreptitious way of
returning to the story but it also resumects the topic of goblins. This, he knows, will have a profound
effect on Beom, inciting hirn to want to hear more. Therefore he adds his own indirect speech act,
in the form of implicature, as the third section of his answer " as 1 was about to tel1 you."
As an indirect speech act, it is doing a great deal of work. First, it flouts the maxim of
Quantity (do not make your contribution more informative than is required). He is stating the
obvious, of course. Beom knows that Gandalf was about to tell him how he and his cornpanions had
crossed the mountains as well as, probably, why. He is also aware that Gandalf knows that he knows.
Since the Wizard is not opting out of the conversation and thus is apparently obsening the
cooperative pnnciple. then he must be implying something. What is he implying?
79
One obvious irnplicature is that Beom is not following the mies of the designated Mener.
Another, which follows from this, is that he is not king very polite by intemipting the designated
speaker. When the storyteller is speaking, the listener should allow himlher to speak unintenupted,
and this is deemed as respect for the storyteller's face. Hence, on the level of face, Gandalf is lightly
rebuking Beorn. There is also irnplicature to the effect that a) the storyteller's feelings are hurt
because of the lack of respect shown by the Iistener and b) the storyteiler is aware of the listener's
distrust in his ability to tell a good story or even, in this case, the truth, without having listened to
the story fmt. Therefore Gandalf is irnplying that, at the moment, Beom is not in a good position
to criticize his story and that he is probably being annoying as well as rude. He is also indirectly
asking his listener to be quiet, and hence to stop asking questions that will be answered throughout
the course of the story anyway, questions which it is the storyteller's privilege to answer at hidher
own discretion or leisure. If a listener is to present a face that supports the line that s/he feels respect
for the storyteller's privilege to tell and trusts the speaker with the unfolding of the story, then slhe
shouid not ask questions about the story to the story-teller (or in this case some of its characters)for
which she will have the answer once the story is finished. So Gandalf, in this case, is pointing out
the fact that Beom is out of face as a listener, which nearly translates into an attack but is, in fact,
a challenge to Beorn's face-threatening acts of intermpting him and interrogating the dwarves. He
has taken the floor away from Gandalf, so to speak, and " as 1 was about to tell you," is the
Wizard's way of informing Beom that any numerical and contextual information wil1 be aven
within the frame-work of the story, and that the floor belongs to the storyteller. This latter is
especially true since Beorn asked him for the story in the fint place, and his "Go on telling, then!"
though "not very polite," acts as an offenng as well as admittance that he gets the point. He
voluntarily, if gnunpily, slips from the suspecting helper to the designated listener, acknowledging
80
Gandaif s point and even acquiescing in i t However, it is said in the tone of the suspecting helper,
reminding his guests, once again, that the floor is only loaned, but it is said nonetheless!
It should have been noticeci, by now, that Gandalf is k i n g extremely unostentatious about
something. That is, he is not openly presenting to Beom the face that he has shown to the Dwarves,
Bilbo and ourselves. This face might be deemed to dernonstrate two qualities which are rather
important in the present context, with Beom. That is, Gandalf is neither unable to count, nor is he
unable to account for derail(s): he is precise and is a disciplined individuai and speaker. However,
he is cleverly not making this clear to Beom. "A friend or two," and the omission of "dwarves" to
describe his companions, are two things which he has no? missed, nor has he suddenly lost the
capacity to provide othen with exact information. He has deliberately chosen that his face seem, at
fust, as that belonging to a person who is either confused by, or indifferent about, details. He
deiiberately tries to seern "wishy washy." Therefore, for Beom to mat him as such, as may be
inferred from his forceful occupation of the floor through his quedous interrogation of the dwarves,
is desirable and cannot constitute a threat to his real '%andaif' face. A prolonged interruption on
Beorn's part, though, does constitute a threat, and so does a substitution of storytellers (which is
what Beom is unwittingly doing when he asks the dwarves to chri@ their purpose); that is why
Gandalf takes back the floor. He does so rather pointedly, by irnplying that Beom is not being a
courteous host, in order to signal that, though Beom rnay thus far think him to be a poor storyteller,
he is not so unconscious of details not to notice that Beom is passing his role off to somebody else.
He gives us a quick glimpse of the sarne trait that made him Say "Just let any one of you Say 1 chose
the wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thiaeen and have al1 the bad luck you like,
or go back to digging coal," to Thorin and Company back at Bag End. He may actually be snapping
81
at Beorn! And this latter's reply that he "go on" may be mostly out of surprise as well! But the
fuviness of details is kept up by Gandalf, nonetheless, and acts not only as a shield for his face,
where lying is concemed (or not telling the whole tnith), dowing him to not appear deceidul. but
it aiso protects the flow of the expressive order.
Another point which is beginning to surface is that there are two social or expressive orders
that are attempting to establish themselves. The first, which Gandalf and Company support is that
of the relationship between storyteller and designated listener. The second, which Beom shll clings
to. is that which exists between suspicious guestshelpees and suspecting host/helper. The purpose
of Gandalf s story is, of course, to eliminate the second expressive order and promote the fmt,
specifically because it will lead to a more positively connotated second expressive order: respected
guests/helpees to willing hosthelper. But Beom does not want to be hicked into providing help to
people that he may deem unfit, and especially because he Lives in the Wild, an area where such a
mistake could cost hirn his life or at l e s t some of his animals (etc). So, his goal is to assure himself
that his guests have no evil purpose, and the best way to do that is to promote the second expressive
order as long as possible, or until it is discovered whether or not the p a q is comprised of villains.
However, there is a goblin story to be heard, mie by ail accounts. and he wants to hear it, but in order
for this to happen he must comply with the fmt expressive order. So, though "Go on telling, then!"
is aptly imperative because he will not fdly relinquish the second expressive order until he is
satisfied with his guests' good intentions, this is also his way of indirectly infonning the storyteller
that he has made an offering, allowing hirn to continue with the story. In fact Gandalf must do so at
this point. This allows Beom to maintain both the suspicious hostkelper and designated listener
faces. However, this state of affairs will lead him into a conundrum eventudly because the
storyteller is the one who commands the Bwr in the fint expressive order while it is the suspecting
host who does so in the second So the equilibrium which Beom is attempting to conserve is tenuous,
and he will ultimately have to accept one or the other. Note that Beom's acknowledgement that the
story will continue is another consequence of " as 1 was telling you." Without Beom7s acquiescence
in its continuance, Gandalf c m o t be sure that he wiU cooperate with the fmt expressive order.
Gandalf continues the story:
'niere was a temble stom; the Stone giants were out hurling rocks, and at the head of the pass we took refuge in a cave, the hobbit and 1 and several of our cornpanions ..." 'Do you c d two several?'
From now on, we can observe that the narrator, in the case of Beom's protestations over numerical
semantics, no longer defines the speaker as with ", said Gandaif" or ", said Beom." We, as readers,
now know perfectly well who intempts and who attempts to tell the story. This, to stylists, also
serves as a clue about the roles of the respective speakers. We now know that the same fomat will
folIow again and again until al1 fifteen guests are in Beom's house or until he sen& them d l "off like
suspicious beggars." Thus, fmt, face-threat to the host and the storyteller appean in the story, then,
second, it is chailenged by Beom; then, thirdly, Gandalf makes an offenng which, at last, Beom
accepts in his own fashion ( o h in the shape of an imperative statement).
"Well, no. As a matter of fact there were more than two." ''Where are they? Killed, eaten, gone home?" cWell, no. They don't seem al1 to have corne when 1 whistled. Shy, 1 expect. You see, we are very much a h i d that we are rather a lot for you to entertain."
In almost every case where he is going to make an offering, Gandalf uses the word ccwell,"
or "no." And only in one instance is it bereft of "well, ..." when he says "O no!" in the next
intemiption-and-protest sequence ("O no! As a matter of fact ..."). It is dso sometimes followed by
"as a matter of fact ...". His reply has not only become formulait, but it has become idiomatic as well.
83
This is important because it marks the fact that Gandalf wmts Beom to believe that nothing is
implied through his haziness with certain details. In ' lndkct Speech AC~S"'~ Searle proposed that
the maxim, "speak idiomatically unless there is some special reason not to," be added to the fourth
group, the maxims of manner. Furthemore, Gandalf is king markedly idiomatic, and it serves the
purpose of making an offering that is acceptable to Beom. That is, it marks that he is gïving
precedence to Beorn's face over his own, so to speak, by overtly dropping the formality of the
exchange, adding humility to the offering, and serving as a signal to Beom ("well ..." = "you're
right") that the Wizard sees his "erroi' and will take steps to correct it. If he were not being
idiomatic, for example saying 'mat is not so. It is a fact in this matter that ...." (hence more formal),
the effect would not be the same and Beom would probably understand implicature in such a reply.
This is so because "well ..." is clearly part of the idiom of most English speakers, usually preceding
a statement of explication. Generally, it signals an offering, or it can be used in avoidance, such as
in this sequence:
A: 'Did you tell me an hour ago that we were runnuig out of gas? B: "Weil, yes." A: "...oh."
For B to Say "Weil, no" rnight be an admission of guilt, or 'Weli, I'm afraid 1 wasn't looking at the
fuel gage," guilt with an implied offenng appended to it. In any case, and although 1 will not pause
on d l of its applications, unless it is used as an adjective or noun, "well ..." when it is at the
beginning of a clause is used almost exclusively in an idiomatic fashion. It would be a study of many
pages to determine how we and Beom know exactly what Gandalf means when he says 'kell,"
so let us simply adhere to the supposition that "well ..." is a marker of explanation or offenng, in the
exchange between Gandalf and Beom, and that it is a device used by the former to "recover" the
l6 Searle, "Indirect Speech Acts," 50.
expressive order.
The "'game" that Gandalf is playing is a delicate one. He is in fact 1 ying to Beorn, but he musr
do so. He m u t aiso avoid k ing proven a bar, or Iosing face as an "honest" storyteller. So when
Beorn intempts him and points out an omission in his details, Gandalf must not only achowledge
the fact, but he must give adequate reason as to why the "fact" was emoneous in the first place. So
in the above exchange, 'Weil, no. As a matter of fact ... a lot for you to entertain," he is admitting to
the falseness of his numenc details about cornpanions by outlining the party's respect for Beom's
suspecting hostmelper face as well as the fear that they may be too many for him to 'entertain." The
utterance that outlines these two points serves the purpose of providing them as reason for king
obscure. It is also a very polite way of observing his reluctance for having too many guests at one
tirne. This sort of idiomatic explanation by Gandalf allows him to mitigate the potentially face-
threatening effects that might be presented by a statement such as "wkre are they? Killed, eaten,
gone home?"at is because such a statement is, again, one that implies that Beorn is not content
with the quality of the story that he is receiving. He will even go so far as to make a suggestion of
several possible details that Gandalf has forgotten to include. As well, this could be taken as
implicature to the effect that Gandaif is lying, and it would be doing so by flouting the maxirn of
quality, deliberately saying something the truth of which he is not certain. If he implies that Gandalf
is not telling a gwd story, or that he is not a good storyteller, then he does so by flouting the maxirn
of quantity, saying more than is necessary in the present context. Gandalf knows that Beom does not
know whether or not his statement is tme. Also, he knows that Beorn need not have offered more
details, because this flouts the designated listener maxim ("1 will listen"). Hence, because Beom is
aware that Gandalf knows that he has flouted the designated listener maxim, the information
85
contained in his utterance 'Where are they ..." is not al1 that is k ing said. So Gandalf knows or
beiieves that Beom may be impIying something. A relevant implicature, as 1 have aiready stated,
may be that Gandalf is telling a bad story, another may be that he is lying. His reply "Well, no. ..."
is airned at allaying both, as -11 as keeping the situation in its precarious balance. He must make
his reply adequate in that sense, because of Beom's 'impolitesse,' as it were: it is difficult to tell
whether he is flouting the maxims or simply unaware that he is violaring them! Another important
item is that Beom does not challenge details that are outside the storytelling frame-work, or that
reside withinm offering. He challenges "one or two" and "several of our companions" but not "a
lot of us" in the fmt offering, or "a lot for you" in the second Moreover, he only protests about the
guests being dwarves in relation to the story, since Gandalf had omined that detail.
Beom's acceptance of Gandalf s offering cornes in this speech act:
"Go on, whistle again! I am in for a party, it seems, and one or two more won? make much difference,"
"Go on, whistle again," is enough to signai his acceptance of Ganddf s offering. But he adds "1 am
in for a party it seems ..." Now, he may have only been thinking out loud although the narrator says
that he "growled" but the utterance has several functions. First of dl. it is an acceptance of "several
companions," but as "one or two more," and he tells Gandalf and cornpany that more will be
"allowed" Secondly, he is also exhibiting his discontent with the whole affair '4 am in for a Party,
it seems," hnctions as implicature by flouting the maxirn of Quantity (he says more than is
necessary for his acceptance of Gandalfs offering to be clear). Unwittingly, he also seems to have
fallen into Gandalf s ambiguity with details by saying "one or two more." Furthemore, in relation
to face-work, that a party will occur has not been mentioned by either speaker, although Gmdalf has
now hinted at it twice. SO, contexnially, he is adding new infonnation when he says that he is in for
86
a party, at the level of the spoken. So, although it is a fact to al1 present, other than Beom, that he
is in for a party, it is by stating the fact whether sarcasticaliy, honestly or othenvise that he signals
his acceptance of it, thus saving Ganddf the bother of apologizing M e r for the size of the group.
This mitigates BeomTs reaction to the sudden appearance of the next two dwarves:
'WuUo!" saidBeom. "You came pretty quick where were you hiding? Corne on my jack-in- the-boxes !" "Non at your service, Ori at ..." they began; but Beom interxupted them. "Thank you! When I want your help 1 wiU ask for i t Sit down, and let's get on with this tale, or it will be supper-time before it is ended"
"Hullo!" marks Beom's surprise at seeing them emerge so quickly afier his acceptance of their
eventual arrival. We h o w this because the last time Gandalf whistled for his friends, he had to wait
for them to corne dong. The next part of the statement can be given, 1 beiieve, two distinct
interpretations. The fmt is that he is angry again and suspicious of the dwarves' over-prompt
appearance on his door-step. This view is fuaher supported by the fact that Beom calls them "jack-
in-the-boxes," which may be flouting Quality, saying sornething that he does not really beiieve to
be me, implying that their timing (''where were you hiding?") makes them suspicious. There is
further proof of this when he cuts off their greeting, rudely once again, and orders them to sit down,
"or it will be supper-time before it is ended." This rnay be flouting Quantity, saying more than is
required at the moment, and, hence, it might be taken as i m p l i c a ~ that he knows. and rnay
disapprove of, the fact that more intemiptions are going to take place. Certainly, if 1 were Bilbo and
the dwarves, this is what 1 would fear, and it is probably what most readers identify with in this
passage. However, the second interpretation shows another set of possibilities and, 1 think, gives us
a more comprehensive view of Tolkien's intentions for Beom's statements at the amival of Non and '
on.
87
Notice that "Hullo!" implies surprise. He is surprised to see them but seems to think that he
sees through their game. By calling them jack-in-the-boxes he is not only possibly implying that he
is suspitious of them, but that he believes, for example, that they may have been waiting, just out
of earshot, for the safest moment to make their entrante. This is e n h l y possible because he asks
them 'îvhere have you been hiding?' which is an indirect speech act: he does not expect an answer
because he aIready presumes to know that they were hiding, and nearby. We know this for several
reasons. First, Beom does not know that the dwarves are coming two by two; it is logical to assume
that he does not understand why a group would not all show up at once, and, thus, every time more
dwarves arrive, he expects that will be the end of the guest-list. Second, we lmow it because of the
context: Gandalf had said of hem that they were "shy" which Beom might well have taken for
"afraid? And, third, we know it fiom the inference that we cm make from Beom's use of the word
"hiding"; what other reason, unless it were for ambushing or obtaining his secrets both of which
actions cannot be true in the present situation could there be for hiding other than fear or, as
Gandalf said, "shyness"? In fact, it is entirely plausible that he does not imply suspiciousness at al1
but a certain reluctance or fearfulness on their part. This may mean that there may be no implicature
of more intemptions to corne behind "or it will be supper time ..." but it may well be a jest about the
dwarves' politeness as well as a signal to Gandalf that he may continue his story. Hence, Gandalf
does not have to inteject as he did last time. Indeed, we know that it is probably an indirect request,
not only for the dwarves to stop being so timeconsumingly polite, but for Gandalf to continue his
tale because we cm infer from "or it will be supper-time" that a) he has acknowledged or is aware
that a story takes a certain amount of tirne in the telling, and b) he is also giving away the fact that
he wants to hear the story (instead of the dwarves' offers of "help") by violating Quantity (saying
more than is necessary) since he is inadvertently admitting that he is willing to listen to the story
88
until supper-time, and c) that he believes that the dwarves' sitiing d o m and k ing silent is a
necessary condition for the story's continuance, and the swner the better. So we and Gandalf are
allowed to understand, from Beorn's latest statement, that he tmly wants to hear the rest of the
Wizard's account, and that this is something important to him. And we may conclude that not only
does he ask hùn to continue the story, but to have it finished before supper-time at least!
If we recall that Beorn has said that "one or two" more guests are acceptable, as well as the
fact that he does not know that nine more guests are set to anive and that he has not understood
GandalPs hints that there are "several of us," we can relax about his suspiciousness of the Party.
But the fact of the matter is that the exchange between Ori & Non and Beom can validly be taken
either way; it can be accepted as impiicahlre either of the suspicion that yet more guests are coming
or of the fearfulness of the latest guests (with the addendum authorizing Gandalf to continue the
story). Each camies equal force, depending on point of view, and 1 believe this to be deliberate on
Tolkien's part. It is an intentionally ambiguous passage, in the case of implicature, meant to instill
anxiety about Beom's suspicions not only in some of the chanicters in the scene, but also in the
readers. But to persons such as Gandalf, or those who have read and re-read the passage several
times, it is meant as a signal that the fish has taken the bait, as it were: Beorn very much wants to
hear Gandalf s story and will tolerate a "party" in order to do so.
How many ponies are in a "noop"? In any case, "troop" is the word which brings about
Beorn' s next challenge to Gandalf s attention to numencal details:
"As soon as we were asleep," went on Gandalf, "a crack at the back of the cave opened; goblins came out and grabbed the hobbit and the dwarves and our ûoop of ponies" "Troop of ponies? What were you a travelling circus? Or were you carrying lots of goods? Or do you always cal1 six a troop?'
89
Note that Beorn's objection, this tirne, is merely impl ying that Gandalf is telling a shoddy story , but
with the same dual meaning as above attached to "ûr do you always cal1 six a troop" (perhaps
implying that more guests are coming). Gandalf has ingeniously used "Eoop" to describe the amount
of @es that the group ha& thus informing Beom that there rnay have been more than six ponies.
Perspicacious as usual, Beom wants to know what a "trwp" of ponies might be used for, and how
many of them there are in it, with how many rides, and he wants Gandalf to be penpicuous (maxim
4). He supplies, again, three reasons for which Gandalf and company may have needed a 'koop of
ponies": they are a traveling circus; they were carrying goods; Gandalf aiways equates "six" with
"troop." All three suggestions are contained in a statement that flouts Quantity he says too much
and al1 three are wrong. 'Travelling circus" he knows cannot be hue and he also is aware that
Gandalf and company are aware that he knows. He is poking fun at the group as weU as at Gandalf s
ski11 in storytelling, both of which seem to be displaying a comical (to us) or fmstrating (to Beom)
inability with basic mathematics. He implies, by flouting Quality saying something for which he
does not know the truth that Gandalf is a ridiculous storyteller, and that his group is dso ridiculous.
However, it is the third element of his objection, questioning Gandalf s semantics ("six" =
"troop" ?), that the Wizard will choose to acknowledge and for which to provide an offenng:
"O no! As a matter of fact. there were more than six ponies, for there were more than six of us and well, here are two more!"
In the discussion of "well ..." above 1 mentioned that GandaIf uses "O no!" once, and I am now in
a position to explain why. At every other challenge, Beom's concem was with the growing nurnber
of guests or characters in the tale. So Ganddf s offerings were in a style that acknowledged the
storyteller's emor "well ..." as in "you're right, 1 used the wrong te m..." But Beom has so
convinced himself that no more dwarves are coming that , in this case, Gandalf must comect the
90
listener! That is "O no!" cm be equated with "No: you're wrong on that one, old chap !" So Beom
is caught in a rather humorous (if not for him, then for us) position, indeed! In a manner of speaking,
he has cornpletely been had, and that is why he frowns at his next two guests. He is very angy that
they have appeared, not only because he doesn't want any more, or that their appearance again
deiays the story. but because he feels tricked, and GandaIf s latest "we ll...," as apology, does very
linle to mitigate this feeling.
This is, of course, a critical moment for Gandalf and his companions, because Beom must
now choose between the first expressive order, story-teller to designated listener, and the second,
suspicious guests to suspecting host. At this point, they cannot both be accomrnodated for the simple
reason that to uncover Gandalf's "lies" or declare his trickery wodd mean that the first expressive
order is rejected, as well as its intended successor (austed guests to willing host), and that he mut
eject Gandalf and Company from his lands. That is, to expose Gandalf as a liar or a trickster would
be to make him lose face in the first expressive order. And since that face is holding to the line of
good (and honest) s t o ~ l l e r , to reject "lying" would be to reject "storytelling," especially in view
of the fact that Gandalf s story is supposed to be facnial.
But, as it is, Gandalf is only king nebulous about the exact number of his companions. The
story itself we know to be me, and exactly how many characters are in it is not really an essential
factor. Rather, it is what happens to the characters that is most important, especially since Beom's
request was to be told the events that led the group to his door and not the exact number of that
group. But he is interested in the number of characters in the tale because his line as designated
listener is that of a "discerning listener": he wants Gandalf to get al1 his facts straight. But an
91
undedying concem, and one which we have seen take precedence over his Iistener face h m tirne
to time, is his "h~s t ' ~ face; he is also a d i s c e ~ n g host and he wants to seem so. So when dwarf#7
and dwarf #8 materialize on his doorstep, he risks looking Iike a fool, since, by now, it must be
dawning on him that even more guests are likely to arrive. If Gandalf has made hirn look foolish,
then the storyteller to designated Iistener expressive order is destroyed, and the Wizard and his
fnends will be expelled. But if Beom finds a way to Save face, that is keep the line of a disceming
host and not that of a fool, as welI as remain a disceming story-iistener, then Gandalf and Company
have accomplished their goal, and he is on the way to dowing hirnself to become a willing host.
Luckily for our friends, two thinps prevent Beorn from Iooking the fool. First, the cornical
and extremely self-effacing behavior of Balin and Dwalin who
did their best to be frighdully polite, and kept on nodding and bending and bowing and waving their hoods before their laiees (in proper dwarf-fashion), till he stopped frowning and bunt into a chuckling laugh: they looked so comical.
This is a necessary condition for their forgiveness, in fact. Their presence has become a threat to
Beom's face as the disceming host, so they, as acceptable guests, m u t make a suitable offering to
assuage the big man's annoyance with them. At first, it does not quite work, but eventudly (because
they "looked so comical") Beom signals his acceptance by quitting his frown and laugiung at them.
The unspoken indication by the dwarves is that they are willing to accept a certain amount of self
deprecation, measured damage to their own face, to show Beom the sincerity of their apology and
that they fervently wish not to be thrown out.
The second item which allows Beorn to Save face is a line which Gandalf has already
provided him with. One way to Save face for another is to offer him/her a iine that is compatible with
92
the context, as well as the events in it and surrounding it. So if I Say '? am Superman," and someone
offered "you feel 'super'?' then 1 couid take that line and present the face that 1 am not a braggart
or a liar. In the preceding interruptions, then, Gandalf has dways been carefid tu tell Beom that "%ve
are very much afraid that we are rather a lot for you to entertain" and " I did not want to bother you
with a lot of us." That is, he has already told Beom that he and his fiiends were afraid or shy of
introducing themselves al1 at once, because of their nurnbers. And since "a lot" is arnbiguous and
can easily mean six or even eight guests, then it is almost certain that more guests are on the way
which is one thing that could make him frown! So the possibility is there for Beom to assume the
iine that he has misinterpreted, or misunderstood, Gandalf's hints. But it is also because Gandalf has
chosen the polite line of not bringing a crowd, al1 at once, to Beorn's front door that enables him to
be forgiven for the ever-increasing guest-kt. So the line that Gandalf had already begun to establish
for Beorn was that of the "respected host." Gandalf, despite his apparent need for help. has ais0
sought to respect his potential host's wishes of not being '%othered" by a mob of guests. And, since
Beom has already said that he was "in for a party," the Wizard's choice of not bringing everyone at
once is a show of respect for Beom. This, coupled with the apologetic showing of Balin and Dwalin,
offers Beom a way out of the face-threat that he presently fin& himself in, due to their unexpected
appearance.
The essential point for Gandalf and Company is that Beom choose, as before, to r e m to the
F i t expressive order. Its accessibility to him, coupled with his desire to hear it through, has always
been a sufficient reason for him to forgive Gandalf's nebulous evaluations which dso ha& for him,
the unfortunate consequence of producing more guests. And, this hme, when the awaited, unfinished
story is not ~ ~ c i e n t to quiet his anger or draw his forgiveness, the dwarves' apologetic behavior,
93
plus Gandalf's polite if arnbiguous warnings of having " s e v d 7 companions, is all that saves the
fmt expressive order from disaster. That is, Beorn chooses to continue his cooperation in the story-
teller-to-designated listener exchange. This is very important because it also means that he has more
or less accepted the group:
Troop, was right," he said "A fine comic one. Corne in my m e q men, and what are your names? 1 don't want your s e ~ c e just now, only your names; and then sit down and stop wagging !"
Obviously, by this utterance, he has chosen to keep to his comment about the group king
a "travelling circus." This continues to be implicature, however. Note the lexis he uses: "troop,"
"comic," "meny men," and "travelling circus." He is implying, by continued fiouting of the maxirn
of Quality (saying something that he hows not to be me), that Gandalf s party is comprised of
"clowns7" or ridiculous folk! But, as the text indicates, the dwarves obey his request 'hot daring to
be offended." They have good reason, indeed, to be offended: Beom is rude; he openly undemines
their politeness ritual; and he mats them. in fact he denotes hem, as though they were d l clowns
or "merry men" in a cornical travelling circus. But what the continuance of the ''travelling circus7'
motif denounces is that, more so than the line which Gandalf has provided for hm, he has accepted
his own adrnittedy (for now) artificial reason for why Gandalf said c'troop of ponies" bringinp two
more guests and this means that he accepts '?roop" and the story's continuance. Therefore the
dwarves wisely sit down, a gesture of avoidance, and remain silent, "looking rather surprised." Note
also that Gandalf, in this sequence, either did not get a chance, or has chosen not, to make the usual
offering such as ''they don't seem to ail have corne when 1 whistled." That is, he went straight to
teIIing Beom that there were more than six of them and "well," here are two more. Instead it seems
to be the apologetic behavior of Balin and Dwalin that acts in place of this offering. So Beom's
sticking to the idea of the travelling circus also acts as a replacement of what Gandalf nomially
would have provided : a reason for there king more guests. That is, he supplies a iine for Gandalf
albeit an ironic one andor may even seem to be "reniming" the Yavour." Thus, not ody is the
expressive order conserved, but it receives a new facet. That is, despite the fact that the "circus" line
is a joke about the group and their storyteller, Beom's host face has begun the transition from
Wow go on again!" said Beom to the wizard. 'Where was I? O yes I was not grabbed. 1 killed a goblin or two with a flash " "Good!" growled Beom, 'Tt is some good k ing a wizard, then." " and slipped inside the crack before it closed. 1 followed down into the main hall, which was crowded with goblins. The Great Goblin was there with thirty or forty armed guards. 1 thought to myself 'even if they were not al1 chained together, what can a dozen do against so many?"' "A dozen! That's the fust time I've heard eight called a dozen. Or have you got some more jacks that haven't yet corne out of their boxes?'
A detail which may not be obvious on the fust reading of the passage is the subtlety of Gandalf's
introduction of the number of his party as "a dozen." It is not m e , of course even if he were
denoting only the dwarves, since there are thirteen of them (though he might pass them off as a
"baker's dozen"). But by introducing so many, and in fact gerting ahead of the count, Gandalf is
attempting to avoid the previous "accident," the face-threat to Beorn when he had believed the guest-
list to be complete at six. Now he has eight "guests" and the wizard, anticipating the amival of the
next pair of dwarves, issues a waming that there were at least twelve in the group (presumably not
including himself). The increment is of four, as opposed to two, so that when Beom sees guests
number nine and ten, he will already be aware of the possibility of guests eleven and twelve. This
is done, again, for reasons of face, both protective and defensive. It ensures that guests eleven and
twelve won't have to be explained that their appearance will not be a surprise and that the host's
face will not be compromised by his belief that the List has ende&
Also, though Beom is still critical of Gandaifs ability to count, he is pexhaps more aware
of the game than he lets on. Again, he uses his own metaphor and implicature of calling the dwarves
jack-in-the boxes, to give Gandalf a line. As a matter of fact, he probably expected two more
dwarves before Gandalf s latest enmeration, and his forbearance at the moment, though in sharp
contrast to the previous guest-interruption, is probably a sign that he is ready to expect four more
guests as well. We h o w this because of the line which he gives the wizad, which is an indirect
speech act, requesting that G a n M cal1 any other guests that may be waiting. Beom asks the
question ("have you still got some more jacks...") expecting an affirmative answer and this is done
for the purpose of defending Gandalf s face, pemiitting hirn the opportunity to introduce more
dwarves. He could easily attack his guest's face at this point conceming the underhanded marner
in which he has brought al1 his friends with him, but he does not.
But there is more to it than that, as Bilbo's insight suggests. Note the lexis which Gandalf
utilizes in his utterances about the characters in his story. For one, he deliberately avoids using
pronouns to denote "goblins" unless they are numerical: he says '7 killed a goblin or two," and "so
many." His other references are also numerical: 'Yhirty or forty armed guards." He also States that
the main chamber was "crowded" with goblins. As well, he introduces the Great Goblin himself
a very important character when one is disposed to hear of goblins. Al1 this "goblin'ky is intended,
of course, to capture Beom's imagination, and to f d y attach it to the story. It gives Gandalf the
perfect moment, seemingly just before the climax of the story, to increase the increment fiom two
to four guests. Because it is hoped that Beorn will now become so captivated by the story that he will
96
be willing to forego k ing offended or overly alarmed by what now must begin to seem a band
formality, that is die sizeable increase of guests. So the scene proves itself innocuous in two ways:
fmt, Gandalf has adequately prepared Beom for the amival of several more guests (half again the
number of people that are presently sitMg before hm), thus rendering it one that is not threatening
to face, and, second, he has injecteci, as it were, a good dose of "gob1in"-ness into his tale in order
to capture Beom's attention and make the bother about puests seem a lighter matter.
However, only two more dwarves actually arrive.
'WelI, yes, there seem to be a couple more here now Fili and Kili, 1 believe," said Gandalf, as these two now appeared and stood smiling and bowing. ''T'hat's enough!" said Beom. "Sit down and be quiet! Now go on. Gandalf!"
Gandalf pays no attention whatsoever to the "jack-in-the-boxes" framework, prima facie, prefemng
to answer the underlying question, which is "are there more dwarves to corne?" He introduces the
two dwarves, whom Beom very impatientiy asks to sit dom: he wants to get on with the story. The
wizard does not Say whether more are on the way, nor does Beom ask. Most notable is the utter lack
of face-threat in this passage. No one's face, except maybe the dwarves', is being threatened or
assaulted in any way, and Beom's request for Gandalf to continue with the story is simply that: a
request or one that is more forcefully put. It is not the acceptance of, or demand for, an offering.
Furthemore, Gandalf is k ing careful, once again, of Beorn's host face, since %ere seem to be a
couple more hem ~ow," conveys a kind of laissez-faire regarding the apparition of the members of
his group, that Mies that even "more" are or may be on the way. Or, another defining quaIity of the
"expressive order" is that it is, as Goffinan points out
A state where everyone temporarily accepts everyone else's hne ... It is typicaily a 'working' acceptance, not a 'real' one, since it tends to be based not on agreement of candidly expressed heart-felt evaluations, but upon a willingness to give temporary lip service to
judgements with which the participants do not really agree."
That is, Beorn is willing, temporady, to give "lip service" to the coming of exna guests in order to
hear the story, while Gandalf and Company are content to accept his insinuations and jokes about
them in order, hopefidly, to be allowed to remain with hirn for the night.
So Gandaif went on with the tale, until he came to the fight in the dark, the discovery of the lower gate, and their homor when they found that Mr. Baggins had been mislaid. 'We counted ounelves and found that there was no hobbit. There were oniy fourteen of us iefi!" "Fourteen! That's the fmt time I've heard one from ten leave fourteen. You mean nine, or else you haven't told me all the names of your party." 'Well, of course you haven't seen Oin and Globin yet. And, bless me! here they are. 1 hope you will forgive them for bothering you."
At last Gandalf supplies the exact number of his group 14+1 (hobbit)=lS. But Beom is not
satisfied. This is because Gandalf has been so inexact. throughout, with numbers, and he has no idea
that the count is actudly finished. But he offers Gandalf another opportunity to atone by, again.
supplying a line for Gandaif, "you haven't told me ail the narnes of your party," which allows the
wizard to circumvent the aiticism of his poor arithmetic. Beom tirelessly provides chances for
GandaLf to tell him that no more guests are coming, such as in "one from ten leave fourteen." Even
his indirect request to know what other guests are coming C'you havenyt told me ail the names..."),
represent such an oppomuiity. Gandalf accepts this latter line, and introduces guests eleven and
twelve to Beom, meanwhile keeping the imer-story count at fifteen. Since their arrivd had already
been foretold in the prior interruption, Beom does not trouble with them. Notice that Gandalf,
however, makes an offenng to Beorn without king asked when he says '7 hope you will forgive
them ..." He does this as a protective manoeuvre for Beom's disceniing host face. However, Beom
not only forgives him but he slips: his answer can be sectioned into three major parts:
1 : "O let 'em aU come!" 2: cTIuny up! Corne dong, you two, and sit down!" 3: "But look here, Ganddf, even now we have only got yourself and ten dwarves and the hobbit that was Iost. That only makes eleven (plus one mislaid) and not fourteen, unless wizards count differently to other people." 4: 'But now please get on with the tale."
Section 1 of the utterance is hunied acceptance of Gandalf's polite, if unnecessary, offering. But
it is impatient, because Beom is tired of interruptions: he wants all the guests to come out so that the
story may finally continue without intemiption. It is quite probable that the wizard's offering was
more playful than anythng else, even though it seemed to be offered sincerely. One c m imagine him
silently chuckling over the frustration that Beom might feel to have to go through the bother of
having to acknowledge it, and then his latest guests, when for a l l the world he simply wants to hear
the story! Section 2 is proof that he is indeed impatient. He does not so much as accept a greeting
or a bow from the dwarves, that he orders them to be silent and sit down, so that the story can
continue. He is at the point where ten dwarves at once would not alam him, as long as he could hear
the rest of the story without further dismptions.
Section 3 of Beom's unerance shows that his sole reservation with regards to nurnben, now,
is for the story's sake. Indeed, that the story make sense that Gandalf be precise with his numerals
has become Beom's prirnary concem. Even the actual number seems to have become a secondary
concern: to quote Goffman, "he may want to Save others' face because of his emotional attachent
to an image of them."ls So, in this case, he wants to Save Gandalf s story-teller face (as one who
tells a good story) and, in so doing, Save the story. He does so not just because he wants to have
heard a good story and that his designated Iistener face demands it but because Gandalf is no
99
longer a suspicious guest. This means that he has developed a certain amount of respect for the
w i d He now desires precision from the story, which is more than wanting it to make sense: in the
latter sense, the bias is for his own listener face, while in the former case the bias is for the storyteller
and his story. Note that the 4'Iogic" of the 'cconversation" nins dong two planes: two different
conclusions can be denved from the statement "Gandalf is being nebulous about the number of
members in his group, within the story." The first conclusion is that "he is Iying to" and/or "he has
something to hide frorn" Beom, which is suspicious and apparently dishonest. The second
conclusion is "maybe wizards count differently than other people" andor "he is k ing polite by not
mentioning all the narnes of his guests at once." Both have a profoundly different effect on the actual
importance of the number of characterdguests in the story. In the fmt case, Gandalf could be hiding
suspicious beggars who may be "up to" no good, which would relegate the story to the statu of a
lie or an unimportant secondary issue. However, the second conclusion(s) affects the outcome in the
sense that the story has become the primary object of interest. That is, the story cannot be the main
concern of Beorn unless he is convinced that Gandalf counts differently than other people do which
he cannot believe in any case and which, as implicature, means that he believes that Gandalf s ski11
with numbers is questionable (in which case Gandalf is telling the mith and loses the stigrna of
bsuspicious') or that he is purposely sparing him a shock (in which case he is allowed, temporarily,
not to tell the exact tmth and also Ioses the stigma of bsuspicious'). Beom has now clearly chosen
the second possibili ty(ies).
Note, also, that "unless wizard's count differently to other people," appears more as an after-
thought than an actuai comment in this case. Though he implies by it Gandalf s unsure numerical
semantics, he aiso gives away the fact that he is a little bit confused or frustrateci with the apparent
100
dichotomy that exisîs between the number of characters in the story and the number of guests sitting
before him. This whole section, in fact (section 3), is designed as an indirect speech act whose
propositional content is "'you are wrong somewhere," either in the story or out of it. It can also be
seen as an entreaty whose propositional content has become : "please tell me that you will stop
bringinp more guests to my house!" Indeed, that is the message that we can discem when keeping
his host face in mind since, if he seems to have accepted his guests, he must be thinking how he will
entertain them!
But Section 4 of Beom's utterance actually cuts off his own protestation to Gandalf about
numbers and authorizes him to continue the story. So Gandalf does not have to Say "as 1 was about
to teil yod'; Beorn seems to know already that the sooner he too is quiet, the sooner he will receive
an answer to his question! It also marks that the wizard can continue with his story, but the
appearance of "please" is more than politeness. Note that it is the first incidence of politeness by
Beorn towards any of his guests. In fact, a fair study could be made of each of his utterances from
his first greeting of Gandalf and Bilbo, right to the end of the story-telling scene. A short outiine of
the "progress" that occurs in section 4 of Beom's latest utterance may be useful:
A) Go on, cal1 away! B) Go on telling then! C) Go on, whistle again! D) Now go on again! E) Now go on, Gandalf! F) But now please get on with the taie.
The first item which should strike us is the occurrence of "go on," marking the imperative, in the
fust five statements. This is in contrast to "get on" which is still an imperative but is softened by
'please." At no other point in the scene does "please" enter Beom's vocabulary. Also, A to E are
ended with an exclamation mark, denoting an outright comrnand, whereas this omission in F
101
displays a request, rather than an order. And, as speech acts, A to E are far different from F,
functionally: in none of the five commancis does the listener take into consideration the storyteller's
will to no? continue with the story. He is simply tumed on and off like a light switch. But in F there
appears to be an awareness of this, and Gandalf is actually given the choice; that is, he may decline
if he so wishes. This is so because Beom has requested that he continue with his story raîher than
having ordered him to do so.
Another significant advance is c73ut'7 in 'But now please get on with the tale." It may not
seem so, but it is nearly a refutation of the protestations of Section 3 of the cumnt utterance, or a
tempo- suspension of it. He is in fact willing to forego Gandalf's inconsistency because he is now
thoroughly involved in the story, as the narrator of The Hobbit displays: "he had begun to get very
interested," and "he nodded and p n t e d when he heard of the hobbit 's reappearance." Thus, "But"
functions as an unconscious admission that though Beom is weil aware that Gandalf's numbea are
off, he is willing to cease his protests in order to get them answered if only al1 these dwarves could
stop showing up! So now the listener face is donned permanently by Beom, and though three more
dwarves are to corne, Gandalf s mission of petting his friends accepted into his home is
accomplished. He has earned Beom's respect and that respect is s h o w through this latter character's
obvious willingness to hear the story through, as well as his new indifference towards the actual
number of guests that will appear.
This is effectively his 1st interruption of the kind That is, though there are two more, neither
is caused by concem for his disceming host face, nor are they spawned by his scruples as a
suspecting host. The fmt expressive order, of storyteller to designated Iistener, has prevailed and
102
so it has all but assured that the fulnllment of its agenda to promote a situation where Gandalf and
Company are welcorned as guests and Beom is their willing host (as well as helper) is all but
assured I will not, then, analyse these last two interruptions as I have so far; they occur after the real
danger for the group of questors has passed and neither represent a face threat to Gandalf or to
Beom. The first when "he got up and sirode about and muttered: '? wish I had been there.. ." is more
of a compliment to the storyteller. It is a violation of the designated listener's maxim, '7 will listen,"
but it expresses Beom's immersion into the story, and how much he appreciates hearïng it, perhaps
even acting as a cheer. The last interruption, which takes place after Gandalf relates to Beom the
Song, "Fiften birds in five fir trees," by the goblins, is a sign of final satisfaction on the part of
Beom; he now knows the exact number of the party that he is to entertain and, moreover, that the
story will no longer be interrupted. He even says so:
"Well, now there are fifteen of you; and since goblins can count, 1 suppose that was all there were up the trees. Now perhaps we cm finish this story without any more intemptions."
We have seen that the linguistic theories of Grice and Searle as well as the linguistic theory
of Face-work, by G o h a n , al1 of which were proposed to describe language as it actually exists, are
applicable to at ieast one of Toikien's dialogues. That is not to Say that any of these theories are
perfectly representative of the phenornena which they propose to describe; such a claim would be
fallacious. But since they were designed to promote understanding of the "genuine article," that is
of everyday conversations between people, they should be capable of doing likewise for "literature,"
in the sense that its experiential value wouid endow it with more of the qualities of achial everyday
language. 1 believe that they have done so for this scene in The Hobbit. Furthemore, it seems to be
apparent that, if Tolkien did not possess exact knowledge of these theories, he certainly possessed
extensive howledge of the d e s of interaction as well as implicaîure and indirectness in speech acts.
This is knowledge, of course, that we al1 either possess imately, or that we have leamed, as it were,
by rote and unconsciously; we display it without thinking about it each time we engage in speech.
But, even as such, Tolkien was certainly a clever speaker. Throughout the scene in which Gandalf
tells his story to Beom, there is a sense of humour apparent in the very telling: Gandalf s
suggestions, for example, that the dwarves were "shy, 1 expect," when they did not al1 come at once;
Beom's incessant mdeness, and (though it is not ovealy stated except in "not daring to be insulted")
in the face the dwarves who are resolute in their refusal to be insulted though one can imagine that
they were afiaid of gainsaying their host are all elements that give comedic value to the xene.
GandalPs side-stepping of al1 Beom's insinuations about jack-in-the-boxes, his playing, as it were,
the fool or perhaps the distracted scholar are also hilarious. The scene is one of great importance,
especiaily for the dwarves and the hobbit, one which could just as easily have taken place in an epic.
And it is by amusing himself with the rules of conversation, as well as social interaction, that
Tolkien imparts, to an outside viewer at least, much that is comic about the scene, even though its
outcome whatever the goal(s) of the speakers involved could be quite serious andor meaningful,
and of epic c o n ~ e ~ u e n c e . ~ ~ Such is the nature of the meeting of Beom and Ganddf. And such is the
ski11 of J.R.R. Tolkien, that both the comic and serious elements are finely balanced and always clear
to his readers, and this is so mainly because of his skill in and understanding of langage in
conversation.
'' As a consequence of Gandalf s success with Beom, Bilbo and the dwarves will eventuaily come to the Lonely Mountain, where their presence will eventually precipitate the fa11 of the dragon Smaug as well as of most of the Goblins in the north of Middle-earth. This is crucial to the victones attained in The Lord of the Rings. Or as GandaLfputs it, in a conversation with the hobbits, in Unfinished Tales: "When you think of the great Battle of the Pelennor, do not forget the Battle of Dale. Think - of what might have been. Dragon-fie and savage swords in Eriador! There rnight be no Queen in Gondor. We might now only hope to return fiom the victory here to ruin and ash." 326.
Chapter 3 :
Evduation in 'The Ride of the Rohirrim"
If a reader had expected a Victoria. novel when reading The Lord of the Rings s h e might
well be expected to Say "so what?" since it is not a Victorian novel (though its opening has that
style). But if a reader expects hobbits and a fmtasy or literary story but says "so what?" then we
might believe that The Lord of the Rings does not contain adequate evaluations to illustrate its
point(s). However, if the reader did not ask "so what?" then it follows that s h e is satisfied with the
evaluation of the events in the story. According to Labov, there are at least four basic components,
on a syntactic level, through which evaluation is performed and by which we may avoid the dreaded
question. These are bbI.ntensifiers," "Comparators," '%orrelatives" and "Explicatives."
One method which can be used to intensify a narrative sequence is the use of gestures : "the
plane flew over us and it went Like that!" It is more prevdent in spoken narrative but can appear in
written narrative when a character is telling a story within the narrative. Another intensifier is the
use of qressive phonology mch as in ' k e were waaaaaay up there ! " Again, it is more prevalent
in spoken nanative but often appears in the wrinen as italicized or capitalized text, as onomatopoeia
or expressive typography (i-e. as with itaiics or upper-case text: "smacK' or with an exclamation
mark), or it can appear in words such as 'behold!" "lo!" "suddenly," and so on.
Quantifers are also employed to intemi@. In "we came al1 the way over fiom Toronto," for
example, "all" acts as the quantifier intensiwg the passage. In "he is very tire$" "very" is the
intensifjmg unit. AIso, the
device of repetition is relatively simple nom the syntactic point of view but is effective in nanative in two senses: it intensifies a particular action, and it suspends the action.'
Thus this device, often seen in poetry, can be characterized in the following example: "And miles
to go before 1 sleep.! And miles to go before 1 sleep." We should also keep in mind that
Intensifies as a whole do not complicate the basic narrative syntax. But the other three types of interna1 evaluation are sources of syntactic complexity2
One intensifier which Labov does not mention, but which acts as a hybrid of repetition and
expressive phonology is alliterution. The reason why Labov did not mention it as an intensifier is
probably that it has mostly fdlen out of modem, spoken English, especially the vemacdar. Since
' Labov 379. ' Labov 380.
1 O6
his study deals only with the spoken vernacuiar, it is clear how alliteration came to be omïtted. But
as an evaluative device used in -ttm language, and foremost in storyteiling, I cannot ignore it here
and place it among the class of intemifiers. It follows fkom this that assonance may ais0 be
considered as a member of this class. Both not only evaluate a given passage but compound its
phonological impact, as we shall see below.
2) Comparators
Labov says:
The use of negatives in accounts of past events is not at all obvious, since negation is not something that happens: rather it expresses the defeat of an expectation that something would happen. Negative sentences draw upon a cognitive background considerably ncher than the set of events which were observed They provide a way of evaluating events by placing them against the background of other events which might have happened, but which did not. Comparators, including negatives, compare the events which did occur to those which did I I O ~ OCCUT.~
As well, a
comparator moves away fiom the line of the narrative events to consider unrealized possibilities and compare them with the events that did occur.'
Uppermost in this huiction arefihrres, negatives, and modals. If we return to the above excerpt fkom
The Lord of the Rings, to Sam's dilemma with GoUum, we may dissect it using Labov's method
of isolating the auxiliary to show how these three elements accomplish theu evaluative function:
conj. subj. AUX verb phrase etc..
' Labov 3 80- 1. ' Labov 387,
Sam's hand
His mind I
It *
wavered
was hot with wrath and the memory of evil
would be just to slay this creature ...
And
But
The whole point of the passage is that Sam could kill Golium, but he does not, and it provides us
with infoxmation as to why he allows him to Live. One way in which it accomplishes this is by
comparing several events that will not happen with those that do. There are four comparators, as it
were, in the above passage and they outline the actions or events that occur and do not occur. The
kt, a modal "would" compares slaying Gollum with the fact that, in reality, he is spared. The
second, another modal "seemed," compares ''the only safe thing to do" with the unsafe thing to do,
which is to release Goilum. The third, a modal accompanied by a negative '%ouid not," compares
seiking G o l h with the acnial event of not doing so; note as well that the combination of modal
and negative at this point marks the fact that Sam has made up his mind about not k i b g or striking
his foe. The fourth cornparator is a . auxiliary, "had," and it compares the present reality, that Sam
does not carry the Ring, with the possibility that he could have borne it as long as Gollum did. So
though only two events take place Gollum is spared and Sam does not possess the ring at Least
six are displayed as possible: sparing Gollum, killing him, killing him as the only safe thing to do,
striking him, Sam becoming a slave to the Ring and Sam not having the Ring.
And
If we consider the physical events as they take place when seen fkom the extenor, that Sam
is seen to hesitate then teils Gollum to leave, then the role of the evaluative elements of the passage
are made clearer. Even if we examine only the comparaton, we becorne aware of what could have
it
something
he
He himself
he
seemed (to be) the oniy safe thing to do
restrained bim
could not
had
strike this thing iying in the dust...
borne the ring ...
nimly guessed the agony of Gollum's ...
108
happened Sam codd have killed Gollimi because it was the only safe thing to do and we become
aware of what may happen. It is not specified for us, but it is definitely implied through Sam's
thought process that to d o w Gollum to Live is probablyunsafe therefore the field of probable events
is at a crucial point in the story kept to a maximum. As well, the force that restrains Sam's han&
though it is not named either, is displayed to us in its action through Sam's consideration of
Gollurn's long ownership of the Ring: and that is pity. The comparators in this passage also give
evidence that Sam is undergoing a personal debate. A certain expectation is set up by "His mind was
hot with wrath and the memory of evil" which is ultimately defeated by "he could not W e . " But
this last comparator is in opposition to "It would be just to slay this mature'' and "it seemed the only
safe thing to do." That is "it would be just to" but "he could noty' kill or strike Gollum, and the
debate is final.
Other comparators exist, however:
questions are also cornparaton .... If we consider the compelling character of al1 questions (man& in Skinner's terminology), it is clear that all requests, even the most mitigated, are to be heard against an unrealized possibility of negative consequences if they are not answered.
T ~ L S Gandalf, in the "chamber of Mazarbulm," asks: "Who cornes hither to disturb the rest of Balin
Lord of Mona?'" He receives in answer only the iaughmg of the Orcs. The negative ccnsequences
are that the Company of the Ring will be attacked by an army of Orcs and that their death is almost
assured, since in war there is no speech unless it is to demand or offer suender which, in this case,
Gandalf s question implies that nothing of the kind, from his own party, will take place.
'The imperative is also a comparator, since the force of the cornmand in narrative syntax is
Labov 384-5. The Lord of the Rings 343.
109
hquently: 'you do this or else....'"' Hence Aragom's imperative statement in the same scene, In the
chamber of Mazarbul: "Slam the doon and wedge them!"' The "do it or else ..." scenario, in this
case, is "do it or die (sooner)." The expectation, if the other characters in the group do not wedge the
dooa shut, is that Orcs, fidly m e d , will corne strearning into the chamber with the obvious intent
to kill them dl, This serves as evaluation, of course, since it outlines the fact that the characters are
in danger of death. It also follows nom this that "or" clauses are also comparators, since imperatives
derive their evaluative force fiom being in inferred "or" clauses : eat this (or else.. .).
Also included in the class of comparators are comparatives and superlatives. That is, words
such as "bigger" and '%iggest" serve to offer cornparisons between the field of the possible or
expected and the field of the actual. Such an instance is offered to us in the following excerpt:
'T will go dong with you, Mr. Frodo," said Sam (in spite of private misgiving and a deep regret for the best beer in the ~asâarthing).~
The evaluative function, here in the superlative "best," serves to illustrate the importance of beer to
Sam by comparing his "deep regret for the best beer," which is a c t d , with the possible: that he
rnight have sat down with a ta11 tankard of that wonderful brew. And this also serves the purpose of
m e r describing his personality to us, that he is a beer-drinking hobbit, rather than an abstinent one.
Such a comparison also suggests that Sam has, at least once, sat d o m to enjoy an excellent brew,
or two!
Simile and metaphor are also evaluative devices whose main evaluative function is to offer
' Labov 385. ' The Lord of the Ring 341.
The Lord of the Rings 10 1.
110
cornparison. For example, in 'Rom dark Dunharrow" the poem we d e d in Chapter 1, the clause
"golden timbers were in gloom mantled" is highly metaphorical and serves to evaluate for us the
feeling of darkness that surrounded the event of the ride of the Rohirrim. Essentidy, the sentence
suggests that gloom is a rnantle, and if we consider the connotation of "gloom," that its semantics
contain trepidation andior a sense of fear or foreboding andior sadness, then the evaiuational task
of the sentence is to, at Least paaially (since "gloom" is also meant to denote "darkness"), display
the emotion of the people in the poern. That is, by comparing gloom to a manîle, Tolkien has made
it palpable, almost physical and something that drapes itself over al.& and both darkness and, as it
were, "gloomy thoughts" comprise this mantle.
3. Correlatives
Correlatives '%ring together two events that acnially occurred so that they are conjoined in
a single independent ~Iause."'~ Thus the highlighting of an event is carried out not by comparing it
to another or by in tens iwg it, as we have seen, but by grouping it with one or more othen in the
same sentence. Therefore, the one or more clauses which accompany the main event are intended
as, so to speak, its retinue.
Included in the group of correlatives are progressives and appended participles. That is,
clauses in the style of be .... ing (progressives), where the action is continuous, help in the evaluation
of a given event encapsulated by the clause which they comprise. Clauses with appended participles
where
'O Labov 387.
one or more verbs in -ing are aligned, with tense m a r k and be deleted; the action described is heard as occurring simultaneously with the action of the main verb of the sentence, which itself may be progressive"
also generate evaluative force for the event at hand
For example:
In the lane the noise ofhoofs broke out, and gathering to a gallop, went hammering away into the darkness. All about Crickhollow there was the sound ofhoms blowing, and voices crying and feet ninning."
A labovian breakdown, slightly deeper than the one we performed in the Introduction, will enable
us to produce a better analysis (note that 1 have put in parentheses those syntactic elements which
I moved fkom their original position in the text):
conj. subj. aux- verb obj. etc ... 1 the noise ofhoofs 1 broke out
and
--
There are only two independent clauses in this excerpt: '?n the lane the noise of hoofs broke out" and
"Ail about Crickhollow there was the sound of horns blowuig." The latter is a progressive, denoting
that its action occurs simultaneously with that of the fomer, while both are accompanied by multiple
appended participles. Yet both sets of appended participles are accomplishing their evaluative task
in a markedly different fashion, with regards to time. That is, in the fint sentence, the appendages
(in the lane)
of h o m
and voices
Labov 387-8. '' The Lord of the Rings 193.
went
there was
blowing
m g
gathering
hammering away
(dl about Cnckhollow)
to a gallop
into the darkness
112
"and gathering to a gailop" and '%vent hammering away into the darkness" could not possibly have
their order reversed and still make sense, while in the second sentence, the order of the appendages
is not importan~ temporaily. The "noise" broke out, then progressed "to a gallop" to go off
"hanmering away into the darkness." But the cLsound" was comprised of "homs blowing and voices
crying and feet nuining." The function is to evaluate the event of the Black Riders' intrusion into the
Shire and their flight therefkom once the alam is sounded, as well as the hubbub in which they leave
it. Also, the "noise" is evaluated through its progression nom a gallop to a %ammering," and the
"sound" is enriched by the account of all the things which simultaneously comprise it.
"Such multiple participles serve to suspend the action in an evaluative action; they bring a wider range of simuitaneous events while the listener waits for the other shoe to fdl.""
Another correlative is the double appositive, which is, basically, a re-definition of a given
object in the same clause. "A M e , a long one, a dagger!" is au example that Labov gives us, where
"a long one" and "a dagger" are the attributives to "a Imife." Tolkien makes particula. use of this
device, when great personages are being mentioned:
'7 am Aragom son of Arathom, and am caUed Elessar, the Elfstone, Dunadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor.""
Also included in the group of correlatives, we find double amibutives. These are of the type
"big green house." For example in The Hobbit:
They were toasting roast mutton on long spits of wood, and Licking gravy off their hgers. There was afine toothrne(my italics) smell. Also there was a barre1 of good drink at hanci, and they were drinking out of jugs. But they were trous. Obviously trous. Even Bilbo, in spite of his sheltered iïfe, codd see that: ftom the great hemy faces of them, and their size,
l3 Labov 388. '%e Lord of the Rings 454.
and the shape of their legs, not to mention their language, which was not drawing-room fkshion at ail, at all. '*
These double attributives, '%ne toothsome smell" and "great heavy faces," obviously help to
evaiuate the trolls and their presence in the story, more so than "there was a fine smell, and it was
toothsome," for example, wodd have. ALso, the fact that such combinations aiways foilow a certain
order that is we would not Say c'toothsome fine smell" or "heavy great faces" seems to add to the
evaluative ef5ect which, in this case, is to illustrate that the trolls eat simple fare (in big portions) and
are not particularly physically attractive.
Labov also points out that le9-handp~~ciples, where the -hg participle appears before the
word it "modifies," also contribute to evaluative effect as a correlative. I will quote directly fkom
him, here, as he rnakes a very important point:
The phrase a n unsavory-lookingpassenger in the back of the cab might be paraphrased as severai narrative clauses: 1 looked into the back of the cabA saw this charactedi didn't care for the way he looked. The left-hand participle then does a great deal of work in characterizing the antagonist ... It is not accidental that some of the most complex syntax is used in describing the principal antagonist, who is the chief justification for the claim that the narrative is reportable.16
ïhis applies, of course, to double attributives as well, in that they too could be syntactically
simplified. (The house was big. The house was red-)
4) Explicatives
Explicatives are similar IO comlatives that are marked by single participles with -hg, without
I5 The Hobbit 32. l6 Labov 390-1.
necessitating the progressive. The major difference is that the correlative is restricted to a certain
time W e , whereas the explicative is not It rnay introduce idonnation about the present, the future
or the pas& and it does so as a clause appended to the ' ba in narrative clause or an explicit evaluative
clause."" It is by this a-temporality, if I may use the tem, that explicatives are most easily to be
discemed, but
In the correlatives, we have additional transformations which delete the tenses markers and combine this material into single clauses, while in the explicatives, complete clauses are added. l8
Explicatives are marked by qualzjicatiom or by the causal. That is, they can be recognized
by the conjunctions such as ''while" or Wiough" and "sincen(in the case of qualifications) or
'because" (in the case of the causal). They are not, however, to be conhised with the "qualifier
elernent."" That is, in 'My fiiend the doctor," "the doctor" is the qualifier element but not strictly
a qualification, in the Labovian sense, since it is not a complete clause containing subject, verb and
object (or adjunct). Rather, a qualification will often contain a qualifier element, as in ''1 felt so sick
t h I went to see myfnend (the doctor)," with the qualification italicized. Also, causal conjunctions
such as "because" or "for" are used to introduce explicatives.
It should be noted that the evaluative devices that are described above do not represent the
full gamut of how a particuiar narrative rnay be evaluated. Labov stipulates this himself.
In this discussion of the sources of syntactic complexity in narrative, we have set out a classification of the various ways in which the minimal syntactic pattern is developed. There are many other technicai devices used in narrative which might have been discussed here:
'? Labov 390. l 8 Labov 391. l9 M. A.K. Hdliday, introduction to Func tional Grarnmar.(London: Edward Arnold, 1 994).
deletions, which include claims to ignorance; the use of îhepas~ive~ and ellipsis; reorderïngs, which include monologues, ffashbacks, and displacement of orientation. There are dso dysfiinctional aspects of narrations: confusion of persons, anaphora and temporal relations. This discussion has been iimited to those evaluative devices which involve the intenial structure and syntactic complexi ty of narrative units?'
Evidentiy, some evaluation can also be performed on more Ievels ùian the purely syntactic. Hence,
though my analysis will concentrate mostly on the syntactic level, following Labov's lead, 1 will not
reseict inquiry fiom the level of the thematic or of the lexical.
Evaluation in the Ride of the Rohinini
Tolkien, in letten to readen, admitted to having favourite parts in The Lord of the Rings, at
least twice. These admissions are to be found in The Letters of J.R.R- Tolkien and 1 relate them here:
The heart remains in the description of Cerin Amroth (end of Vol.I, Bk. ii, ch.6), but 1 am most stirred by the sound of the hones of the Rohirrim at cockcrow; and most grieved by Gollum's failure (just) to repent when intempted by Sam: (1966)"
If it is of interest, the passages that now move me most written so long ago that 1 read them now as if they had been written by someone else are the end of the chapter of Lothlorien (I 365-7), and the homs of the R o m at cockcrow. (1967)~
Although these preferences were related some fifieen to sixteen years after The Lord of the Rings
was published, it seems apparent that Tolkien felt the same when he fint wrote it. The "description
of Cerin Amroth" and the "hones of the Rohirrim at cockcrow," are among the most poetic passages
20 Labov 392. " J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter and Chnstopher
Tolkien (London: Unwin Paperbacks, 198 1) 22 1. " The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 376.
116
in the book- As well, both appear at important points in the story. The fonner takes place when Frodo
enters Lorien, his 1s t respite before the Feiiowship's final joumey to Mordor, while the latter
passage depicts the ride of the Rohirrim that is meant to break the siege of Minas Tirith. But they
both also deal with important stages of myth or epic. The former can be likened to dream, where the
hero wili receive the boon of visions, and a gift, fiom the Queen of cireamland, as it were, and the
latter represents the apex of one of the heroes of the story, in banle and bravery, where his
conquering of fear transforms hun, ahost, into a god; and his coming nims despair into hope and
glory. Moreover, both passages occur at the end of a chapter, at a moment of ti-ansition. Therefore,
since evaluation is the means by which the narrator communicates the importance of these passages
to the reader, it should be presumed, if they are indeed important to him, that they would be heavily
evaluated. This, of course, is the case, as 1 wili soon show.
Unfortunately, 1 m u t now fa11 to favouritism, as even a Thesis must end and its specificity
have a limit. Thus, 1 have chosen to analyse, in particular, the ride of the Rohurim. However, before
1 display it in full, it is weil that 1 remind my own reader(s) of the events leading up to ïhéoden's
fateful charge. The poem that we examined earlier is, of course, a fair indicator of what happened
before the riders of Rohan reached Minas Tirith (Munburg), but it does not give enough details
(although, in facf it is itself an evaluation of the actual ride, and charge, of the riders). The most
important details are to be found at the end of chapter V ("The Ride of the Rohimm"), when the
riders arrive at Minas Tirith, having avoided ambush and a large force that had been sent as an
obstacle for them. In fact, they occur just before the passage that i have chosen to study:
The City was now nearer. A smell of buming was in the air and a very shadow of death. The horses were uneasy. But the king sat upon Snowmane, motionless, gazing upon the agony of Minas Tirith, as if stricken suddenly by anguish, or by dread, He seemed to shrink dom, cowed by age. Meny himself felt as if a great weight of honor and doubt had settled
on him. His hart beat slowly. Time seemed poised in uncertainty- They were too Iate! Too late was worse than never! Perhaps Théoden would quail bow his old head, hm, sluik away to hide in the h i ~ l s . ~
In fact, throughout the story, fkom his f h t entrance into if Théoden has show that he is prone to
despair, and that he struggles to remain hopeful. That Gandalfhad to "rescue" him fiom his initial
trance-like state, where he was swayed and his mind "poisoned" by Wonntongue, should be enough
to prove this defeatist disposition. But there are several other occasions where he displays his
pessimism. Among the fint words he speaks to Gandalf, he calls him "a herald of woe" and
"Stomcr~w."'~ Upon his awakening by Gandalf, he tells him that "you have come too late."= He
even admits his own feeling of inadequacy
Slowly Théoden sat d o m again, as if weariness still stniggled to master him against the wilI of Gandalt He m e d and looked at his great house. "Aias!" he said, "that these evil days shouid be mine, and should come in my old age instead of that peace which 1 have eamed. Alas for Boromir the brave! The young perish and the old Linger, withering." He clutched his knees with his wrinkled hand~.*~
At Helm's Deep, he says that "the Homburg has never fallen to assault, but now 1 am d~ubtfûl."'~
And he asks Aragom to join him in a h a 1 ride against the enemy, to make "such an end as wili be
worth a Song if any be left to sing of us hereafter."28
But, convenely, we see positive glimpses of his inner-stniggle as well. When Gandalf
suggests that Théoden stay behind and not take part in the foray that will eventually bring him to
Helm's Deep, his riposte is:
The Lord of the Rings 870. 24 The Lord of the Rines 535.
The Lord of the Rings 538. 26 The Lord of the Rines 539. " The Lord of the Rings 562. '' The Lord of the Rines 562-3.
'Way, GandaIf? You do not know your own ski11 in healing. It shall not be so. I myself will go to war, to fall in the nont of the battle, if it mut be. Thus shall 1 sleep the better?
And, when the plotting of Sanunan is discovered, as well as the iIl effects this has even on Sauron
and his hunt for the Ring, he says "it has long been said: ofr evil will shall &l mar."'O
However, the impression intended by Tolkien seems to be that of an old man who goes, with
little hope, leading his people towards an uncertain goal, but a certain end, stniggling al1 the while
to "endeavour to persevere." The power of Sawon is so great that it would be impossible to
withstand him, if he were to rise with al1 his might and assai1 Gondor and Rohan, even though al1
their forces were mustered on one field. But the goal, as GandaLfstates it, is to "stand unconquered
for a little while,'"?' not to attempt the total defeat of Sauron through arms. And, as if to aid
Théoden's weaker hopefidness, Tolkien introduces another elernent through the perceptions of other
characters at the end of the long Ride of the R o h e ; beneath the stifling cover of the dark clouds
of Sauron, the wind begins to stir. The chief of the wild Men, Ghân-buri-ghân, mentions it: "wind
is changing!" And then, one of the king's own nders also makes the observation:
'Widfara is my name, and to me also the air brings messages. Already the wind is tuming. There cornes a breath out of the South; there is a sea-tang in if faint though it be. The moming will bring new things. Above the reek it will be dawn when you p a s the ~ a l l . " ~ ~
But this does not truly restore hope to Théoden. And, at the very moment when he £kally seems to
lose hope and his shoulders sag on the Pelennor fields, the Witch king, chief of the nine Nazgûl,
aided by the Darkness sent by Sauron to quel1 the hope in men's hearts, and accompanied by a
massive host of orcs, trolls and "Mûmak," is about to smash the gates of Minas Tirith and bring his
79 The Lord of the Rinns 541. " The Lord of the Rings 6 18. " The Lord of the Rines 539. '' The Lord of the Rings 868.
assault into the city.
Then suddenly Merry felt it at las& beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was giimmering. Far, fa away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: moming lay beyond them.
But at the same moment there was a flash, as if lightning had sprung fiom the earth beneath the City. For a searing second it stood danling far off in black and white, its topmost tower like a g l i t t e ~ g needle; and then as the darkness closed again there came rolling over the fields a great boom.
At that sound the bent shape of the king sprang suddedy erect Tall and proud he seemed again; and rishg in his stimips he cried in a loud voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man achieve before:
Arise? arise, Riders of Théoden! Fell dee& awake: fire and slaughter! spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a mord-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
With that he seized a great hom fkom Guthlif his banner-bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. And straightway all the homs of the host were lified up in music, and the blowing of the homs of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared Iike a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran Like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orornê the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For moming came, moming and a wind fiom the sea; and darhess was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of math rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into Song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and temble came even to the Citys3
1 have inctuded, in Appendk B, a labovian dissection of this passage similar to those I have
" The Lord of the Rings 870-1.
120
already executed The synîactic information it reveak is very important, 1 thi& to any study into
Tolkien's style, as it displays certain devices which he uses to evaluate his narrative message, as well
as set the tone for the scene he is displaying. For example, there are ciifferences in "epic" or literary
styles, that are displayed in The Lord of the Rings, which appear to be unique in literattm. 1 will
display these to some extent, despite the fact that the present inqujr is concemed mostiy with
Toikien's evaluative style, suice both are woven together. For the moment, however, it should be
enough to observe that the ride of king Théoden on the fields of the Pelemor is told in what we may
normally call "high" epic.
Be that as it may, the passage does not start, as it were, in the mode of high epic; it only ends
that way. Though there is a clear dichotomy of tone between the paragraph (paragraph O) in which
we witness Merry's doubts about the king (that he wiil "slink" away) and the whole of the passage
that follows (paragraphs 1 through 4). That is, paragraph 1 is in a lower epic mode than the following
paragraphs. Tolkien's lexis itself evaluates this: "'burst asunder," "lo!" , 'Yey" in the later parapphs
(2 - 4) as opposed to "slink away" or "rolling" in paragraphs O & 1, respectively. But this method
is ofien outlined in other s u e s and observations. In The Road to Middle-earth, T.A. Shippey makes
the following statement:
... a strong archaic effect is produced, by inversion of nouns and adjectives, carefd selections of adverbs of time like 7et" and "seldom," and other less obvious linguistic features."
Because what Tolkien, in fact, does when he switches fiom modem to archaic English is to
mark the fact that he is moving fiom one literary mode to the other:
Shippey 198.
There is another way of approaching the cpestion of the tdogy's Litemry status, which has the M e r merit of concentraihg attention on its prose style as well as on poetry. This is via Northrop Frye's now famous nie Anatomy of Cn'ticism (1957), a work which never mentions The Lord of the Rings but nevertheless creates a Literary place for it with Sibylline accuracy. Mr Frye's theory, in essence, is that there are five 'modes' of literature, all dehed by the relationship between heroes, environmen& and human@- 'If superior in kind both to other men and to the environment of other men', declares Mr Frye, 'the hem is a divine being and the story about him will be a myth'. One sees immediately that this does not apply to Gandalf or Aragom, still less to Frodo: Gandalf can feel fear and col4 and Aragom age and discouragement, Frodo pain and weakness. Two steps down fkom 'myth', accordhg to the Anatomy, we find 'hi& rnimesis', the level of moa epic and tragedy, in which heroes are 'superior in degree to other men but not to [their] nahuai environment'. This looks more like The Lord of the Rings, where many of the characters Éomer, Faramir, Aragom again are very much of the stamp of old Siward or Conolanus or other Shakespearean heroes. But are they on a par with their natural environment? Aragom can nin 135 miles in three days; he iives in full vigour for 2 10 years, dying on his birthday. kound him cluster characters who are immortal, iike EIrond and Legolas, who can make fk or ride on eagles, while he hunself can m o n the dead. Clearly the mode intended is the one below 'myth' but above 'hi& mimesis', the world of 'romance' whose heroes are charactenstically 'supenor in degree [not kind] to other men and to their en~ironments'.~~
And when Tolkien does this, he is evaluating the passage for us; he is intensifjmg it. But also,
. - . the are modes of literature beneath romance and beneath epic or tragedy, Le. 'Law mimesis' this being the mode of most novels, in which the hero is much on a level with us
and lower still 'irony', where heroes tun into anti-heroes like Sancho Panza or Good Soldier Schweik or Leopold ~ l o o r n . ~ ~
This is very important to us because not only does it give us a scale by which we may
generally weigh the "litemy mode" of a given passage, but we may also equate that mode with the
importance of that passage. And, since important passages are usually evaluated, we could conclude
that passages in a higher literary mode are also more highly evaluated. But though such a statement
may be true at times, it is not a general d e , nor could it be; it should be evident that some important
passages are Iess important than others, though they are still significant. Are they then to be
evaluated equally? Thus importance and level of evaluation Vary also in accordance with context,
j5 Shippey 190. " Shippey 19 1.
122
and not iiterary mode only. Rather, if we should sense that Toollcieen's style has left "%gh mimesis"
or "Yomance" to b m h with "'myth," then it is probable that a closer look at the passage will reveal
that the style is suddenly more archaic, and we will also fbd that a higher degree of evaluation,
archaisms or otherwise, is also present.
But in the case of the ride of Théoden across the Pelennor fields, we actudly go &om a state
of low mimesis to one of myth, in accordance with Frye's theory. In paragraph 0, the narrative is
fkom the point of view and in the style of Merry the hobbit, but by paragraph 4 the point of view is
M y transferred rather to a kind of mythic eye and the style is dennitely that of myth, as is proven
by the clause in which we are told that he rode "Like a god of old" It is, as Éomer declares in another
romantic/mythic moment when Aragom reveais his ancestry to him, as though "Drearns and legends
spring to life out of the grass.'"'(Nor is it a coincidence that 'Vie grass flamed into green about the
white feet of his steed," in the larger symbolism of the work). Théoden is transformed through bis
refusal, at las& to surrender or to play it safe in the face of seemingly overwheiming odds, fÏom a
feamil old man with drooping shoulders gazing with despair at the overwhelming power of evil into
a god-like being, whose coming makes his enemies wail and flee. Surely, this is no smdl event. And
since Tolkien admits to having had a preference for it himself, there must be a telling amount of
evaluation present in it. Let us begin our analysis, then, with paragraph 1 of the above passage.
In this paragaph, Merry fint senses the syrnbolic change in the air that announces the
j7 The Lord of the Rings 454.
123
revend of fortune that is about to occur on the battlefield T h e n suddenly Merry felt it at last,
beyond doubt: a change." Immediately, we are presented with three examples of evduation, two
intemifiers and a comparative: cbsuddedy," "at last" and %eyond doubt," respectively. They are
significant evaluations in view of the sentence they foilow ("Perhaps Théoden would quail, bow his
old head, tum, slink away to hide in the hih") which is itself heavily evaluated, but with the
opposite connotation. ReaUy, al1 that Merry feels is that there is a change in the air; there is a little
bit of wind rising. But the sentence which relates to us the coming of that change is evaluated enough
that, as readen, we cannot but think it important. This is enhanced by Ghh-buri-Ghân's and
Widfara's prior statements that they too had felt a shift, as well as the importance that they had
obviously attached to it. The next sentence wouid not normdy raise any interest, except that it is
evaluated by an exclamation mark: 'Wind was in his face!" To Merry at the very least (and to us)
the rising of this wind fiom the sea is signincant, though in reality it shouid be but a stirring in the
air. But evaluated as it is, it is magnified fkom a mere change in the air to something like a gust
"Wind"; this evaluation, then, serves to cast doubt on the fear that Théoden may tum away fiom the
battle, and it communicates to us that Merry and, by extension, the Riders are regaining hope. And,
with Hope, "Ligbt was glimmering." At first dance, this sentence does not appear to be evaluated.
However, a syntactic pattern has been repeated: 'Wind was " and '2ight was ." Consider
the passive alternatives : "Meny felt wind in his face," and "he saw light glimmering." Instead, both
"Wind" and 'LightY' are intensified through repetition of sentence structure and through expressive
typography, both of them being capitalized And though outside of Labov's rules they are magnified
by their action as agents both Wind and Light seemingly becoming independent and acting of their
own volition it can be argued that they are given the status of proper nouns, through their
capitalization, and are now trdy autonomous entities and apparently conscious. So not only does
124
"Wind" become more signincant than a little stimng of air, but 'Zight" is more than mere
" m e r i n g " even though we are told that that is what it does.
None the worse for being poetic, this sentence structure also appears to be archaic, appearing
at the very least without the article 'the' that we might nomally expect:
The demonstrative is fiequently not used in OE where we would use it today, e-g. wœistowe g d d 'command of the battlefield', and fiom the poetry (where its absence is even more common),fiam beadwe ' ~ o m the battie' and Oddan beam 'the sons of 0ddaY."
It may even have been meant, by Tolkien, to resemble OE poetic syntax, as would not be surpnsing
since he has already referred to Théoden's 'voyage' to the battle of the Pelennor fields in an OE
poem (see '%rom dark Dunharrow in the dim morning" above, Ch 1). This, of course, is a pure
example of lexical intemKining of leitmotifs dealing with the ride of the R o m . However, Wind
and Light are now M e r intensified by their appearance in this older syntax; the Low mimetic is
abandoned immediately at the beginning of Chapter 1 in favour of the high mimetic: we are already
Losing the perspective ody of Merry and are gaining that of the Riders in general. The speech of the
Etiders of Rohan is itself proof enough. Widfara says "akeady the wind is changing," placing the
adverb ahead of subject and verb, where modem usage would dictate 'Yhe wind is already changing."
Théoden says to Ghân-buri-Ghân, "Good fortune go with you for tidings and for guidance!" instead
of ''may good fortune ...." Arnong the b t words that Éomer speaks to Aragom, "strange too is your
rai~nent,'"~ the adjective is placed ahead of verb and subject, where today we wouid Say "your
raiment is strange, too" (or rather 'your clothes are...") Thus, that Tolkien's narration begins to adopt
the older syntax relinquishing Meny's pseudo-modemNictonan mode means, on an evaluative
j8 Mitchell and Robinson 107. 39 The Lord of the Rings 452.
125
plane, that we are wiinessing the sensation of six thousand Lmights! Merry himself seems to begh
his transformation into "Holdwine of the Mark'' as Éowp wïil later name him. The everyday low-
mimesis language of the Shire is no longer adequate to describe the sensations he feels,a so to
emphasize and intensify his experience the sentence structure takes a 'higher' air, that of the high
mimesis of the more fomal variant available to and utilized by the Riders of Rohan. In fact, he
becomes one of them; thus what he feels, and sees, a l l the Riders there feel and see also. The sudden
breeze, and the faint appearance of Light, have been intensified beyond the measure of any similar
experience that might arise in our present, ccreal," low-mirnetic and ofien ironic world Their arrival
is not just that of fiesher air and a brighter moming, but literally that of hope, near joy, and the
possibility (as opposed to the previous seeming Nnpossibility) of victory against evil, however brief.
Again, in the next sentence, a significant syntactic pattern is repeated: "Far, far away, in the
South the clouds couid be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: moming Lay beyond
them." The last clause, ": morning lay beyond them," echoes ": a change." This syntactic repetition,
then, has its own effect, conveying a sense of lyricism, or even Song, that is not possible in a more
loosely held structure. Let us view the paragraph in a different form:
Then Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away .... rolling up, drifting: moming lay beyond them.
It seems clear that the narrator wants us to perceive the passage at least partially as Song or poev,
40 Pippin's thoughts, when he is asked by Denethor if he can sing, may offer us something with which to measure the shift in didect £iom paragraph O to paragraph 1 : 'Pippin's heart sank. He did not relish the idea of singing any Song of the Shire to the Lord of Minas Tirith, certainly not the comic ones that he knew best; they were too, well, rustic for such an occasion.' The Lord of the Rings 838.
126
and the device that allows us to evaluate this is repetition, specïfically that of the sentence structures.
But not ody structures are repeated: 'Yfar," as in "Far, far away," is also repeated or else why
not Say 'Yar away" only? The distance is intensifie& made greater, but "far, ffar away" is also
correlative. That is, it also acts in some measure as a double attributive. It serves to evaluate the
breach "in a dike that men had thought secure'*' as something that is distant from the Riders, but
aIso as something that is undergoing a simultaneous, on-going action. The sense of distance is M e r
intensified by the capitalization of "South," which is not simply given the statu of a cardinal point
but of a wholly different country. This is M e r added to by "could be dimly seen as remote grey
shapes," where both "dimly" and "remote" accentuate that ciifference, while the modal "could" acts
as comparator contrasting the opposite, that the clouds could have been too far to be seen. But while
we are toid how fa. away the zone of change is fiom the heroes, a set of multiple participles in -hg
'iolling up, drifting" come to assert the continuousness of the opening of the breach. In fact, dong
with cbglimmerlng" and "far, far away" (as double attributive) the continuity is M e r assaed and
evaluated; we are given a full correlative field wherein, while the Riders of Rohan await the moment
of attack, the world continues to move. Hence there is the sense of the inevitability of moming and
of its coming at last to Gondor.
However, the world continues to move in more than one way: the expectation of moming is
pitted against the fact that there is still an assault going on against the City and that the clouds still
" The Lord of the Rings 869.
127
cover it with darkness. We are brought back to the reality that darkness stiil reigns, ironically, by
light. "But at the same moment there was a flash." So a third Line of action is introduced, that of the
attack upon Minas Tinth. This is done through '%ut," which introduces the opposite element to that
of the hope which the previous correlatives had underlined, and thus acts as a comparator. Without
"but" the negation is notas clear yet its fimction is to suspend the present action of the texc primarily
that of the dissipation of the clouds and the r e s t o ~ g of hope. Another comparator then appears, to
continue the delay in the action: "as if lightning had spmg fkom beneath the City." "'As if' marks
a simile, which compares the reality that lightning did not actually s p ~ g fkom beneath Minas Tirith
with the possibility that it might have. Yet tbis has the effect of comparing the whole of the banle,
dong with its dark wrack of clouds, with a storm; and the fact that iightning appears to springfiom
Minas Tirith lends urgency to the matter the stom is attacking the City and, rnetaphorically, it has
stmck it with lightning. This is most definitely the opposite of the imagery that was developed in the
first paragrap h.
Note the continuing, but delaying, presence of correlatives in the following sentence. "For
a searing second it stood dazzling far off in black and white, its topmost tower like a glittering
needle." Al1 three act as progressive participles, that is they convey action which is on-going. Al1
three are adjectival. However, two of these participles are "left-handed." So, according to Labov,
they have also complicated the syntax of the sentence. Hence "searing second" and "glittering
needle" could be simplified to, respectively, 1. a)For a second .... . b) The second was searing. and
2. a) It stood like a needle. b) The needle was glittering. As mentioned above (see the section on
"Correlatives") this very effectively suspends the action, both of the opening of the breach in the
clouds and of the impending charge of the Rohirrim. But Tolkien has added more than one layer of
128
evaluation to this sentence. Finf 4'searing77 is not only a correlative but a comparator, since it is
highly metaphoricd: a searing second? A searing brand, perhaps, or searing lighting, would seem
to be more conventional pairs. But in this case, it is the second the moment in time which
sears ... who? what? We have to think that it is the Riders' sight that is seared, yet the fact that the
adjective describes "second" instead of "lightning" foregrounds it. It is released fkom its more
commonly recognized pairing, in "searing ligbtning," into one that is not common, or conventional,
at ail, and "second" is transfomed into a thing of searing light. The adjective "dazzling" then
continues the suspension of the main action of the text, because it is another progressive participle,
but also because it continues in the same lexical field as "searing." ïhis is also me, of course, of
"glittering." AH three are adjectives of light, describing the action of the light. So, semantically, they
are repeating the same basic motif. In this marner, the flash that the Riders witness at the gate of
Minas Tirith is intensifie4 lengthened, brightened It may seem a stretch of Labov's theory to
postdate this however we cannot forget that his methodology reflects only spoken narrative, which
does not contain this particular kind of repetition at the informal level. To remark on this lexical
repetition is to allow for that lack in Labov's explmation for his rules of narrative.
Yet the layering of evaluation does not end simply with these three correlatives. Note that
there is another simile: "like a glittering needle." The comparison is noteworthy since it is built up
by another comparator "in black and white." In this case, the comparison is semantic: both terms are
opposites, set against each other, and they serve to colour the instant of the flash. Yet, like the rent
in the clouds that has begun to open, the City also is "far off." So not only is "needle" a comparator,
equating something of great size to a such a minuscule object, but it is also an intensifier, acting in
conjunction with "far off," quantifying the distance to the 'topmost tower" as well as to the City.
129
This is immediately foUowed by an explicative, containhg another comparator, in "and then
as W e s s closed again." Labov gives the following example of an explicative as it appears in
modem, verbal nanative:
"and then we reaiized [that we were really out of danger]'"
In this case, the conjunction ''that" marks the explicative which 1 have placed in square brackets.
However, as 1 have paraphrased above (see the section titled "Explicatives"), explicatives "'may be
qua~z,#?cationr comected with such conjunctions as while, though" or, as in the present case of the
Tolkien explicative, with "as." Note, then, that the predicate switches tense and is in the simple past
("closed"), intemiphng the string of progressive participles. But, as Labov postdates, it continues
the pause, diverting our attention fiom the impending main action of the text the Riders' charge
by explicating and drawing attention to the retum of the darhess after the brilliant flash.
Furthemore, it is left-handed which, in the case of a correlative, is of course a sign of greater
syntactic complexity than right-handedness. Hence Toikien's syntactic structure, being far more
complex than that of the Labovian example above, serves to evaiuate the events descnbed at the end
of the second paragraph with greater force than would be possible were they right-handed.
Hence, if the clauses had been jwtaposed in the foliowing fashion: "and then there came
rolling over the field a great boom as the darkness closed again," the effect of the h a l onomatopoeic
'%oomY' doubly intensified since it is also italicised would be lost. As well the explication, which
is already potent, would overpower the intensifier as well as its effect, which is to enable us to 'hear'
the blast for ourselves as well as setting it up as a catalyst for the king's charge. Presenting it in a
right-handed fashion would also, it seems, destroy the tension that is kept up by the cluster of -hg
4t Labov 39 1.
130
participles, since in the text this tension is not broken until the nrst sentence ofparagraph 3. The
tension is enhanced rather than hindered by the explicative, and this is due to the temporal order in
which the events are presented to us: nrst the darkness begins to close "again," then, while it is
closing, cornes the boom. That is, the boom does not corne before the r e m of the darkness but is
simultaneous with it. Though it is the major item in the final sentence, and darkness is, as it were,
ody its adomment or accompaniment, its position at the end of the sentence and of the paragraph
amplifies it as well as its evaluation and ef3ect. So it is essential that we take note of the syntactic
complexity of the lefi-handedness of the explicative, and thus of its resultant evaluative importance,
without which the major effect of the paragraph would be lost.
The explicative "as the darkness closed again" also contains the comparator "closed" which
is metaphorical, giving the impression that darkness can close, comparing its action with the opposite
possibility that it might "open." It is as though the clouds had opened, then closed again, like great
doors. This quasi-metaphor also gives the impression that ''darkness" is an agent, and this impression
is aided by the abrupt discontinuation, already mentioned, of the previous series of progressives. In
the same semi-metaphoric vein, "rolling" is descriptive of " b o o ~ " but is not as agentive, continuing,
rather, to uphold the suspense created by the previous progressives. However we do get a sense of
the "boom" as a ponderous physical object that is able to roll across a wide field, with "great" speed
and force. That is, the somd is compared to that which it is not: a large, heavy object that may move
like a heavy log or an enomous boulder.
131
"At that sound, the bent shape of the king sprang suddenly erect" Upon first examination,
this sentence seems to act simply as a narrative ciause, acting in temporal sequence with the previous
sentence, and breaking the tension created by the earlier present participles. But a complex
evaluation occurs in the substitution of "Inéoden" or 'Vie kingy' with "the bent shape of the king."
Clearly this is a comparator, and Théoden is Likened to a %ent shape," which recalls his age and the
weariness of spirit that he belies in some of the quotes above. As welI "suddeniy," while appearing
to intensify the action of springing erect, is lefi-handed to "erect" and thus modifies that adjective,
rather than the whole verb phrase of "sprang erect." This creates a structure that is far more effective
than "Suddeniy, at that sound ...." or " ... the king sprang erect, suddeniy," for example. "Suddenly"
is doubly an intensifier: it also alliterates with "sound" and "sprang." If we enlarge the phonetic
parameters of this group to inciude al1 voiceless fricatives, we may inciude "shape" in it. The
sentence is remarkable in that it gives us the expectancy that he wilt finally nui off and charge the
hordes of Mordor, though that is not yet the case.
''Ta11 and proud he seemed again;" this appears to be evaluation rather than orientation,
though both occur. First, evaluatively, his appearance is intensified by Tolkien's inversion, placing
the adjectives before the subject and verb. But though "seemed" may look like it marks a simile, 1
believe that Tolkien is using the older sense of the word, where it is much closer to "is" than "looks
like," which is more common in modem 20" century usage. Thus we are given important textual
information of an orientational order, and this action on the part of the text serves to continue the
tension of the lengthening wait before the charge. It slows the Pace in fact, so that we may observe
the king in his tallness and in his pnde and thus also acts in an evaluative fashion, indicating to us
that he has come to a decision and will presently act on it.
132
The suspense conhues with the following clause: "and rising in his stimrps he cried in a
loud voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man achieve before." The correlative
"rising" helps to sustain the long halt in the action, and it is accompanied by the seemingly non-
descript clause, "he aïed in a loud voice." In facc it does not ment special attention except for two
reasons. First, we are told that his voice, at that moment, is "more clear than any there had ever heard
a mortal man achieve before." And, secondly, according to Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings,
Théoden is seventyone years old when this voice erupts £iom h4'. In the twentieth century, that
a man aged seventy-one might 'cry in a loud voice,' is not as remarkable perhaps, but in such times
as those descnbed in The Lord of the Rings this is at least unusual. But it is m e r compared with
"a voice more clear" than any the Riders have ever heard before by "mortaZ man." His voice, that
is, is compared with one more clear than mortal man might achieve. Yet in Middle-earth, there are
only two types of entities or peoples to whom this might refer, both of whom are immortal: the elves
or the gods. So as an old man, Théoden is himself now at least Lightly intensified through "cried in
a loud voice," and he is implicitly compared to the immortals of Middle-earth through the
comparator "more," descnbing the clarity of his voice.
The cal1 of Théoden to the Etiden of Rohan, as it follows below, is set in the Anglo-saxon
poetic style that we have already seen in Chapter 1. It is heavily evaluated and is no Less remarkable
because it is poetry and is, seemingly, not pre-meditated or rehearsed by Théoden. That is, at this
point in the story, his speech is not just prose but it is poetry, which is especially sigrüncant since
these are the last words he will speak to his people. But because it is OE poetry, it takes many
43 The Lord of the Rings 1 130. Théoden was born in the year 2948 (pp.1126) of Middle-Earth's Third Age but died in the year
3019.
Ariie, anke? Ridms of lnéoden! Fell deedr uwake: fire and slaughter! spear shaIl be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day. ere the sun >ires! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
FUst of ail, the whole of the poem is one Large imperative: "arise", "...awake", "ride now." Every
time an upper-case letter marks the beginnuig of a new sentence in the poem, the Riders are given
a new imperative, to arise, to awake, to ride. And imperatives, we know, are comparatoa; in this
case the alternative to obeying them, is of course the assured domination of Sauron over the fkee
peoples of Middle-earth. Several repetitions also occur. "Arise" is repeated twice as is the word
"day," while "'ride" is repeated three rimes. Also, the third line contains a repetition of sentence
structure, noun be pas? partic@le. Though '%hall" is not repeated in the second instance "shield be
splintered," it is implied. As well, each exclamation mark helps to htensify the clause it ends, and
since Tolkien has obeyed the laws of OE poetry, there are also several examples of alliteration in the
poem. Thus, through repetition and alliteration, and via expressive sipography in the form of
exclamation marks, the subject of the poem the imperative to attack is intensifie4 and the
cornparison, of victory to defeat, gains importance as a result.
But more comparators exist in the poem other than the obvious imperative. "Fell deeds
awake" is one of them, as are "a sword-&y, a red &y." The images of the awakening of deeds as
though they had been asleep and of "day" as one of swords and of blood and £ire as opposed to one
of retreat and false peace before the Enemy operate within a highly compressed syntax. That is, we
are not really given a syntax. The long sentence from "Fell deeds awake:" to "ere the s u rises!"
contains only two complete clauses C'Feu deeds awake" "spear shall be shaken"), and only two
134
conjuoctions (":" "ere7') 0 t h than, possibly, commas. Otherwise, the poem would appear to be a
grammatical mess! What does ''fire and slaughter!" mean, and why the exclamation mark when it
is clearly not the end of a sentence, as indicated by the next line's lower case beginning ("spear")?
Why does the poet opt for 'khield be splintered," without "shall" or "will"? And finally why do the
two noun phrases "a sword-&y, a red day," appear without the benefit of a predicate to mark their
hc t ion?
Clearly, these problems can only be explained if we return to the theory, as outlined in
Chapter 1, of OE poetry- That is, Tolkien does not oniy &terate his poem, but he also uses the
techniques of variation and repetition." For example, "a sword-&y, a red &y," is an example of
variation on "day" as weil as a variation on "Fell deeds awake." Also, "spear shall be shaken, shield
be splintered," is a variation not only on action and weapon, but it too serves to M e r elaborate
"Fell deeds awake." A repetition occurs through "arise" and "kre the sun rises," and "awake" is a
variation on that theme. Thus, in the h t instance, the variations on "Fell deeds awake" are
explicatives that appear without conjunctions (other than commas); that is, both "spear shall be
shaken, shield be splintered," and ' a sword-day, a red day" are elaborations of "fire and slaughter!"
Then, in the second instance, the repetition of c'rise'T'arise", as accompanied by the variation of
"awake," introduces a complex metaphor: the rising of day and coming of dawn is parallelled with
or compared to, first, the 'arising' of the Riders to do battie and the 'awakening' of the fell deeds
within them to bring fire and slaughter without. In fact, the metaphor is so strong that it is a "sword-
day, a red day, ere the sun rises!" Before the sun physically rises, it is already "day," on the Pelennor
" S ee above, "Chapter 1 : Old English and Poetics in 'From dark Dunharrow in the dim rnorning" 29-30.
135
fields, since the Riders have brought it there themselves. This is a conceit, in the order of John
Donne's "The Sun Rising" where the lovers make their own b'sun" and do not need the real one to
comfon them or, in this case, haras them and chase them nom sleep and each other's amis. Thus
the comparator is extremely powerful, in Théoden's poem, juxtaposing the a c t d darkness that
s m u n d s them with the 'light' of îheir coming to banle, thus evaluating the value and heroism of
their arrival.
M e r "fell deeds awake" the colon introduces "fire and slaughter" as a reason and/or a
consequence of their awakening. It acts in the stead of "therefore" or "ecause." But what it seems
to mark is the extension of the metaphor of waking deeds." What the Riders are asked to do by
Théoden is to awaken these deeds within themselves, or, in short, to "arise" and to commit them.
"Fire and slaughter," then, is an explicative of "Feu deeds awake," enlarging on the consequences
of this awakening. Furthemore, as though the poet relished not only the sound of these words in his
mouth, but also their meaning, the words "fire and slaughter" which, if not suniciently intensified
by their connotations (and their association in the same noun phrase), are given an exclamation mark.
We might wish to consider the possibility, of course, that "fie" and "slaughter" are not
nouns at al1 but verbs. But, given the extremely condensed nature of the poem's grammar and its
resultant ambiguity (in a purely modem sense), it seems more probable that an underlying sentence
stmcture exists where at least the verb is omitted. Thus we could have equally expected "make" or
"bbrg" + "fire and slaughter." However, 1 will not tany on such details here, since the chief
technique employed is not the implied presence of verbs, but plainly their absence or, rather,
omission. The main reason for these omissions seems apparent: they d o w for the most variation to
136
take place in the least amount of space, their b c t i o n being mainly econornical. In this way, they
avoid for the most part being passive or active, and we are presented with those words whose
concepts are most important. In other words, Théoden's cry is not a speech but a cal1 to arms, and
as such it must bear urgency, if it is to be effective. A lengthy speech, dong with al1 necessary verbs,
conjunctions and other parts of speech would not befit the situation.
As a nnal note on the poem, I will draw attention to "shail" which is a future auxiliary. It
seems to serve as comparator for the obvious "shall noty' which, until this moment, had been dreaded
by characters and readers alike. It makes the opposition between the two impotent, since he is now
promising them action. Furthemore, it actually is implied in "shield be splintered," or rather it is
silent there and it is tacitly understood as being present. Also, it seems to colour the foilowing
variations "a sword-day, a red day"; that is, we could logically superimpose "it shall be" on both of
those noun phrases.
Immediately after his cal1 to arms, Théoden "seized a great hom fiom Guthlif his banner-
bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder." Most conspicuous in this sentence are
the allit entions on "g" ("great" and "Guthl W ) and on '71'' ('banner-bearer", "blew", '%las t",
"burst") as well as, less obviously, on "s" C'seized", "such", "asunder"). Added to this barrage of
intemifien, are the quanti fiers "great" and ''such." They serve to evaiuate the king's actions, and the
fact once again that they are those of a youthful man rather than of an aged one. The explicative 'mat
it burst asunder" serves to explicate M e r the impressiveness of the deed. Also absent, now, are
the -hg participles. They have been replaced by verbs in the simple ps t , without auxiliaries, and the
only item which now serves to delay the action is the explicative, though it relates the consequence
of Théoden's act.
"And sûaightway ail the homs in the host were lified up in music." This clause holds four
evaluative devices: three intensiners, and one comparator. The first intensifier is the "h" alliteration
between %om" and "host"; both words are aiso vaguely assonant. The second intensifier is, of
course, the adverb "straightway" and it relates the immediacy with which the Riders are Bected by
the words and action of their king. The article "di" is a quantifier, and as such acts as the third
intensifier in the clause; though it also acts as a comparator, drawing a distinction between some of
the homs of the Rohimm remairhg silent, and all of them being sounded at the same t h e . Finally
"lifted up in music" is metaphorical, comparing hom blast to music, M e r comparing what could
simply be a high mimetic style to that of romance: the riders are glad to hal ly ride into battle, and
so their blowing sounds to them like music. And "the blowing of the homs of Rohan in that hour was
like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the moutain." Simply put: their ''music" was loud, like
the homs in Ravel's "Bolero." Yet we are presented with two suniles, comparators, that the horns'
sound was like "a stom upon the plain and a thunder in the mountain." Note the symbolism that is
involved: first "lightning" springs fiom 'beneath the City" and is followed by a boom that is itself
not unlike thunder. And now, secondly, Théoden creates a conceit, t e b g the Riders that their
corning to this battle is akin to the coming of &y, and their horn-blasts are also like thunder. That
is, light and sound of one sort, or source, are answered by light and sound of a completely different
kind, ancilor origin. Théoden and the Riders of Rohan are sending their reply to the challenge that
they have received fkom the hosts of Mordor. This is followed by Théoden's renewed command and
repetition: "Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!" effectively the last words he ever speaks to his
people.
"Suddedy the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away." Note the repetition of
the verb '%O spring." It has already appeared in "sprung fkom beneah.." and "suddenly sprang," and
now it is Snowmane who "sprang away." Evaluated for us here is the alacrity with which the Riders
choose to fight, their embodiment of the "northem heroic spirit'*' so loved by Token, their refusal
to docilely accept defeat. Evil may spring upon them, but they wiU spring back themselves, launch
their own attack. The act is also intensified by "suddenlyY" It has the connotation of '%efore anyone
was ready to follow," as is supported by later events in the paragraph and in the following chapter
of "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields." AIso, at this point, the writing divorces itself from the high
mimetic and, through romance, approaches the mythical. Throughout the next five sentences, up to
"For morning came," Théoden undergoes a transformation surpassing that which he has already
expenenced. Or, rather, it is the writing which undergoes this transformation since it would seem
that, fkom the outset when he called "in a loud voice, more clear ...," Théoden has already been
transformed: the wriring now requires the time to gain, as well as cornmunicate, awareness of this
fact.
Intemifiers abound in the following text. There is strong "b" as wel1 as 'W alliteration in
"Behind him his banner blew in the wùid, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it."
Sentence structure is again repeated in "After him thundered the laiights of his house, but he was
ever before them." Note the similarity between "Behind hun" and "After him" at the start of both
sentences. A concordant structural dissimilarity, indicated by "but," is introduced in 'lie outpaced
45 Shippey 141.
139
it" and "he was ever before them." That is, at the beginnllig of both sentences, Théoden is the
indirect object and "bis bannef' and %e lmights of his houey' are the subjects; but at the end he is
the subject and "if' and "them" become the direct objects: the grammatical roles are reversed in the
''but" clauses at the end of each sentence. The 'design' as it were is symmetrical. This repetition of
sentence structure, as well as the fionting of the indirect objects '73ehind himy' and "After u" has
the effect of in temimg the incredible speed of Théoden's charge, as well as adding to the list of
those actions he accomplishes which are "superior in kind" to those of other men, not only superior
in degree.
Supenority in degree belongs to Éomer, as we may witness through the evaluation in "Éomer
rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in the wind of his speed." His speed is gaged
through the "h" alliteration of "honetail" and "heh," as weil as through the correlative 'Yioating."
This verb is also metaphoncal and thus is a comparator, juxtaposing stillness with the hi& speed
necessary for Éomer's honetail to seem as though it were floating, "and the front of the fïrst éored
roared like a breaker foaming to the shore." Note that their roaring and foaming ashore is counter
to the "rolling" of the boom kom the destruction of the city gates, just as their hom-blasts were in
answer to it. Also, there is alliteration again in "fiont," "first" and 'Toarningy ' there is perhaps even
an attempt at a kind of euphony or looser alliteration here, since al l the 'sea' sounds, as it were, are
begun with voiceless ficatives such as "f' or "sh" "foaming to the shore" and this seems also to
contribute to the intensi-g of the Riders' charge. It serves as well to M e r the simile that
compares their charge to the coming d o r e of a great wave that sweeps away al1 resistance. The
whole of the a m y of the Rohimm is now itself firmly established in the mode of romance. In their
gallant and heroic charge, they have reached a point where they too are, for a little while, superior
140
in degree both to other men and to their environment: they are like one of the forces of Nature, as
unbrided an4 with their "panache," as beautiful.
But "Théoden could not be overtaken." Notice that this clause ends the symmetricalness of
the two previous sentences, where the construction is activdtransitive (Le. '%e outpaced if'), by in
this case being transformed into the passive/inbran~itive. This serves to indicate Théoden as the next
subject for the narrative and his final, strongest evaluation. Furthemore, it evaluates his rise to the
mythicai state through the negative/modd "could not," highlighting the fact that his speed is far too
great for anyone else to match, that it cannot be çurpassed; the Riders are equated with the forces of
Nature, in their great rush, but he still "outpaces" them: his transformation is greater than thein.
However, the following sentence is possibly the most important one, if any could be
designated as such, in the whole of the passage and even the chapter
"Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran iike new fire in his veins, and he was bome up on Snowmane Like a god of old, even as ûromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young."
At this moment in time, Théoden is secureiy elevated above the status of mortai men and warrion.
He is now compared to one of the principal deities of Middle-earth. Also, "fey," "fusr" "fathers,"
and "fie" help to intensiw Théoden's appearance to his men, and his aggrandizement to us. Note
the metaphoric "he was borne up on Snowmane" as though he were being transported not by a
physical horse that must run on the earth, but by a strong wind. Being bome up is also something that
happens to h i . , not necessarily something that he brings about himself; the horse, Snowmane, is
likewise transformed into a Power, as he must be if he is to bear Théoden, and with such great speed
that none of the other Riders can overtake them. But, just as Snowmane's literary mode is upgraded,
so is Théoden's, and he is compared to "ûromë the Great-"
Because of the importance of this evaluation, cornparing the king to "a god of old," 1 m u t
introduce a significant point: there are two ways in which a reader rnay corne to this passage, which
give slightly different, but important, points of view. The fïrst, and most common, is that she has
perhaps, but not necessarily, read only The Hobbit before reading The Lord of the Rings. The second
way a reader may approach this passage, usuaLIy on a second rea- is after also having read The
Silmarillion. The distinction is of great importance, because not only does knowledge of
Silmarillion change one's perception of "god of old" and "Oromë the Great," but it qualitatively
alters the evaluation of Théoden. This is because The Siharillion pre-dates The Lord of the Rings
both in the physical wrïting and in the history of Middle-earth. However, 1 would not pause on the
matter if it were not that it was Token's intention that The Silmarillion be published before, or at
the same time as, The Lord of the Rings. in a letter to his publisher, Allen & Unwin, before the
publishing of either he States that
Ridiculous and tiresorne as you rnay think me, 1 want to publish them both The Si[manl[ion and The Lord of the Rings in conjunction or in connexion. '1 want to' it would be wiser to Say '1 should like to', since a Little packet of, Say, a million words, of matter set out in extenso that Anglo-saxons (or the English-speaking public) can only endure in moderation, is not very Likely to see the light, even if paper were available at will.
Al1 the same that is what 1 should like. Or 1 will let it al1 be?
It would be imprudent, then, not to consider the passage of Théoden's charge as Tolkien meant it to
be presented, that is with knowledge aiready acquired fiom The Silmarillion. But since most readers
* The Letters of J.R.R. Toikien, 137. This quote was taken nom a letter that Toikien wrote to Stanley Unwin in an effort to dissuade him from publishing either work, since he had decided to accept the senrices of Collins instead. The clause concerning the limited endurance of Anglo-Saxons for what an Allen & Unwin reader had previously termed "Celtic" linguistic influences in The SihariIlion, is actually quite cynical.
142
read the later work before the earlier one, it wouid be equaiiy foolish not to consider that perspective
as weU. Hence, 1 wiU briefiy summarize both points of view.
Some have argued that The Lord of the Rings derives much of its poignancy fkom the sense
it gives of being conneaed with a history of immemonal antiquity. This sense is mostly caused by
the intermittent use of old heroes' names, old place-names, and the recounted histories, here and
there, of ancient heroes, batties or corntries. Sam sings the Song of GiEGalaci, the last elven High-
king in Middle-earth. Aragom sings the "Lay of Leithian," and BiIbo himself composes a song for
''Eiirendil." AU of this serves to establish that there is a long history preceding the present crisis, and
that history also lends a ce& ‘‘flaveur" or air to Tolkien's story. This is especiaily tme if we do
not h o w the history of Middle-earth, since we cannot accurately quAQ these past events, heroes
and places. So when we come upon the simile of Théoden as Oromë the Great, it is through this
sense of myopia, before a long history and a rich pasf that we come to our perspective of the piece.
Because we are not sure exactiy who Oromê is, we cannot exactly correlate the present with the past;
that is, our imagination is &ee to ascribe whatever qualities it likes to Théoden, as a result of the
cornparison. The oniy limits are that Oromë is a "god of old" and that he (presumably) took part in
'Vie battle of the Valar." But these are hardly constraining limits, since we can only assume that
perhaps the Valar are/were gods. Thus, though we develop a good idea of ïhéoden's new greatness,
as well as of the magnitude of the evaluation, our perception of the symbolism, and of its
seamlessness, is hazy, so that the evaluation loses part of its strength, though none of its romance.
However, in The Silmarillion, it is written of the go& of Middle-earth that
The Great among these spirits the Elves named the Valar (my itaiïcs), the Powers of &da, and Men have often called them gods. The Lords of the Valar are seven; ... Manwë, Ulmo,
Aulë, ûromë, Mandos, Lorien and ~ullcas:'
So, as one of the seven greatest beings in Arda (earth, including Middle-earth) other than Mekor,
who was the original Dark Lord, and whom the Valar defeated at the end of the first age
ûromë tamer of beasts would ride at whiles in the darlcness of the unlit forests; as a mi- hunter he came with spear and bow, pumiing to the death the monfiers and feu creatures of the kingdom of Melkor, and his hoae Nahar shone like silver in the shadows. Then the sleeping earth trembled at the beat of his golden hooves, and in the rwilight of the world Oromë would sound the VaIar6ma his great hom upon the plains of Arda; whereat the moutains echoed, and the shadows of evil fied away, and Melkor h e l f quailed in U ~ m n o , foreboding the wrath to corne."
Omit the god's name and that of his fantastic horse, and though we might pause at the mention of
Melkor and Arda (which could be substituted for "S auron" and "Middle-earth"respectively), we
might conceivably believe that this is a description of Théoden and of Snowmane. However, the tnie
similarities between the two are more conspicuous in the light of the above quote. Both ride on white
horses that are in one way or another exceptional. Both blow a "great horn," though Théoden in his
transformation bursts his asunder, perhaps as a consequence of his temporary accession to goddom,
where, as a mythical character coming into contact with (at best) a hi& mimetic object, he causes
its destr~ction.'~ Both Théoden and Orornë ride with at least a spear in cornmon. Also, the
thundering of 'the lmights of his house" serves to parallel that of the golden hooves of Nahar as he
gaiioped on the earth, and, just as for Oromë "the light of Aman was in his face,"50 light of day f d s
upon Théoden as he charges the army of Mordor. Furthemiore, Oromë was one of the chief
" The Silmarillion 25. " The Silmarillion 4 1. " This is comparable to the Greek myth of king Midas. Midas requested the mythical power of
turning everything he touched into gold or, in other words, that whatsoever he touched in the low mirnetic world around him should undergo a transformation to the mythical. This turned to his own body's detriment however, when he wished to eat. In the case of Théoden, the act is near-godly and so the hom, which is meant to be blown by men, 'burst asunder.'
" The Silmarillion 50. (Le. Aman = Vahor, the land of the Valar)
144
participants in the Song of the Ainur, through which Eru, the One, created the earth.'' Thus, in the
h t case, where the reader has never read The SiImarilIion, the mythical value of the evaluation is
not as clear as in the second, where the reader knows who Oromë is and may guess more accurately
as to the pertinence of the coxrelation as weli as to the power of the evaiuation.
But the cornparison to Oromë is only the ciilmination of "Fey he seemed .... the world was
young." The whole of the sentence is heavily evduated in other ways as well. It may senre us to
break down the clauses in a Labovian grid:
coni . subi.
and
when
- - - -
the battie-fus. of his fathers
the world
aux, verb obi. etc ...
1 ran 1 Iike new fïre in hir veins,
Clause 46, "Fey he seemed," is purely evaluative, offering a s e l e through the verb "seemed," as
well as archaic lexis and grammar. Accordllig to Funk & Waenall's, the definition of "fey" is "acting
as ifenchanted or under a speli," and its origin is £kom the French terrn, '"fée" which is "fajr." This
works uncannily well with its close phonetic Old English analogue 'Tæge," which meant "fated,
doomed to die."" How ironic, then, that it be applied to Théoden in his glory! However, we should
accept an arnalgamation ofboth definitions in ToIkien's use of the word, as well as acknowledge that
it works in two ways: it foretells the death of the king, and it is symbolical of his present passing
from one sphere to the next. Moreover, not only is the antiqueness of "fey" used to evaluate the
was
See ""Ainulindalë" (Chapter l), The SihariIlion 15-22. 5' Mitchell and Robinson 3 1 8.
borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar
145
king's mood but it is &O fkonted by the archaic gramma., placuig the adjective before the noun, and
thus it is doubly intensified.
The next word, "or" marks that a comparator is being offered: "or the battIe-fûry of his
fathers ran Like new fire in his veins." Not only is this passage heavily alliterated, but it also benefits
fkom a complex metaphor. The "attle-fury of his fathers" is, fïrst, compared to "new fie." Very
aptly, it '%in" as though it were "new fire," rather than cccoursed" or "flowed." But it does so "in bis
veins." This means that the item which is not mentioned, Théoden's blood, is compared to both "the
battle-fusr of his fathers" and "new W; in the fint case, it takes the shape of a metaphor ('the
battle-fury of his fathen" = "blood) and in the second it takes that of a simile (blood like "new
fïre7'). Hence, the metaphor is compounded and compact, working on more than one level at once,
telling us:
"His blood was the battie-fùry of his fathers." ''The battie-fus. of his fathers was iike new fie." "His blood was like new fie."
And, it "ran." This conforms to the saying that '%bod runs in X's veins," but also to the saying that
"fire ran through Y," enhancing the double-metaphor. As weli, it is contiguous with the action of the
king himself, and his Riders. In a sense, then, Théoden is like a being of fire as he descends upon
his foes, but this fie, as well as being "new," is inhabited by "the battle-fus. of his fathen." So in
another sense, he is an amalgamate; that is, he is Rohan in the hour of his glory.
Fuaher comparisons are made in "the battle of the Valar when the world was young,"
including an explicative. Note the parallel of the "'banle of the Valar" with the present battle of the
P e l e ~ o r fields. That is, not oniy is Théoden compared to one of the Ainur, but the clash in which
146
he takes part is compared to a battie among go&. It is itself heightened far beyond a mere skirmish,
nearly attaining mythic proportions, and it is established as a conflict of significance comparable to
'?he battle of the Valar." Indeed, in both battles, the same thing is at stake; will evil triumph over the
kee peoples, or will they prevail? Yet, though in both cases the victory of darkness would be
devastathg, it would be even more so in the later battle where it wouid be "swifi and complete: so
complete that none can foresee the end of it whiIe this world lasts.'"' So despite the fact that the
combatants on the Pelennor fields are of lesser stature or degree than those who participated in %e
battle of the Valar," their plight is as dire, if not more so. Hence, though the comparator that
juxtaposes both batties acts primarily to continue the aggrandizement of Théoden, it also serves to
establish its importance and grandeur.
The state of the earth itself then receives a cornparison, with what it had been "when the
world was young." Note that this is aiso an explicative for which the main fûnction is to continue
the delay of action and focus on Théodeds rise to the status of mythical character, taking us far back
in t h e . Yet to invoke the world as it was when it was '~oung" is to compare it to the present, which
occurs uncounted years later. It is perhaps also to invoke the state of the mybcal world, the world
before low mimesis, high mimesis or even romance; and superimpose it on the present. This makes
sense in the light of sorne of Tolkien's beliefs:
This was Tolkien's major linguistic heresy. He thought that people could feel history in words, could recognise language 'styles', could extract sense (of sorts) fiom sound alone, could moreover make aesthetic judgements based on phonology. He said that the somd of 'cellar door' was more beautifid thau the sound of 'beautifid'. He clearly believed that untranslated elvish would do a job that English could not."
53 The Lord of the R i n ~ s 9 13. " Shippey 104.
That is, he beiieved that phonemes were not necessarily ail arbitrary, and that
there might be a 'me language', one 'isomorphic with reality', and that in any case there might often be a close connection between thing-signifiecl, person-signi-g, and language- signified-in, especially if the person who spoke the language lived on the thing?
This may seem to be off-topic, but let us consider two more quotes. Tolkien, in ''On Fairy-Stones"
makes an interesthg statement about myth, and of its fate in a world of evolving technology and
scientific knowledge:
It seems to have become fashionable soon after the great voyages had begun to make the world seem too narrow to hold both men and elves?
In The H m with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell expresses the same phenornenon with greater
elaboration:
We have come two stages: kt, fkom the immediate emanations of the Uncreated Creating to the fluid yet timeless personages of the mythoiogical age; second, nom the Created Creating Ones to the sphere of human history. The emanations have condenseci, the field of consciousness constricted. Where fonnerly causal bodies were visible, now o d y their secondary effects come to focus in the Little hard-fact pupil of the human eye. The cosmogonie cycle is now to be canied forward, thenfore, not by the gods, who have become invisible, but by the heroes, more or less human in character, through whom the world destiny is realized. This is the iine where creation myths begin to give place to Iegend as in the Book of Genesis, following the expulsion from the garden. Metaphysics yields to prehistory, which is dim and vague at fïrst, but becomes g r a d d y precise in detail. The heroes become less and less fabulous, mtil the final stages of the various local traditions, legend opens into the cornmon dayiight of recorded
This is, indeed, traceable through Frye's modes of literature, where we can trace the progression (or
digression) of popularpreference fkom myth to low mimesis and irony, through the ages. That is, that
the stones of human beings have slowly gone fkom speaking of gods to telling of great heroes, and
firom these legendary figures they have come to refer to the everyday person one may meet in the
*' Shippey 104. "The Monsters and the Cntics" and Other Essays 1 11.
" Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2" e d (Princeton: P ~ c e t o n University Press, 1968) 3 15-6.
148
meet, or in any fast food restaurant, Tolkien was acutely aware of this, obviously, and Campbell
shows that he was not the only one to detect it, and that it is a h o w n phenornenon. But what the
quotes show is that Tolkien, by o f f e ~ g the comparator 'bhen the world was young," is atîempting
to evoke the incredible antiquity of true myth. So the function of the comparator is not to show
contrast; on the contrary, it draws a parallel between both worlds, young and 014 as well as between
both battles. And in doing so, the whole scene is elevated, for that moment, to the state of myth.
This mythical state continues in the following sentence: 'Wis golden shield was uncovered,
and lo! it shone iike an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his
steed." In isolation, "His golden shield was uncovered" would not normaliy be as striking, but it
benefits fkom a familiar tactic which Tolkien uses to evaluate/intensify his chmcters. It is the
recurring motif of one of the characters being 'ûnveiled" as it were, and showing forth for a moment
the light that is within them. For example, Gandalf undergoes this transformation when he meets
Aragom, Legolas and Gimli on Treebeard's hill in The Two Towen, "There he stood, grown
suddenly îali, towering above thern. His hood and his grey rags were flmg away. His white garments
shone.'"' Aragom also serves us with such a display, when he declares himself to Éomer d d g the
chase for Meny and Pippin:
Aragom threw back his cloak. The elven-sheath glinered as he p p e d ig and the bright blade of Andiiril shone like a sudden flame as he swept it out 'Elendil!' he cried. '1 am Aragom son of Arathorn , and am called Elessar, the Elfktone, Diinadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor.
Thus the action of uncovering the king's shield serves to intensify it, just like Gandalf and Aragom
casting off their cloaks serves to aggrandize them: light is being unleashed upon the world that,
'' The Lord of the Rings 5 15-6. '' The Lord of the Rines 454.
before, had been hidden.
The action is then m e r intensified by the archaic expressive "Io!" which is thus triply
intensified, since it is also accompanied by an exciamation mark The word "lo!" is similar in
meaning to '%ehold!" but it is derived fiom the Old English 'Y&" which also meant "lo! behold! oh!
ah!'" Hence the meaning has not changed for this word in over a thousand years, though it has long
fallen out of regular usage. Also the word itself is an intensifier, as 1 mentioned in the section on
intemifiers above, and it receives the help of the expressive typography of an exclamation mark. It
serves not only to evaluate the u n c o v e ~ g of the shield, but also to draw our attention to the shield
itself, which is "golden" and now shines " like an image of the Sun." It should be said that in
Tolkien's Middle-ea. mythology, the Sun is the last nuit of "Laurelin" (one of the two trees of light
that once grew in Valinor, the land of the Valar), which was set in the sky by the Valar to circle the
earth and bring it light, hence the capitalbation of "Sun" and its concomitant intensification.
Accordhg to the mythology, a powerful god steers the course of the sun, though one of lesser degree
than Oromë. This go4 though a female spirit, "Arien," is "a spirit of fie," and "she was as a naked
flame, temble in the fullness of her splendeur.'*' Thus, the comparator "like an image of the Sun,"
to the SilmariUion-initiated, bears much significance and is indeed highly condenseci, since Toikien
could as easily have said "Théoden was even as Arien, that spint of f i e who guards the sun," or
something of that kind. Nor is it iikely that Tolkien was not aware of this. But the cornparison
presently goes M e r since, once again, it is perceivable in BVO ways; that is through knowledge or
ignorance of The Silmarillion. Though in both cases, the king is rnetaphoricaily carrying the "Sun,"
Hall 208. The Silmarillion 100-
150
in the former case, he is also himself a spirit of fie; and this is hamonious with the previous image
where '?he battle-fury of his fathers ran Iike new fke in his veins." The symboiic dawn is upon us,
and is coming against the hosts of Mordor. Furthemore, a go4 a "spirit of fie" rides there and is
himself the seerning source of light
Benefiting fiom the evaluation of the shield as @ver of sunlight is the following clause, "and
the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed." Immediately, the grass metaphoncally
fiames, like fie, "into green." The M e r Théoden's charge is evaluateà, the more £ire and light
imagery we are given. The adjective '*hite" here offers a contrast with the environing darkness, and
thus acts as a comparator. AIso intensifying the passage is the word "steed," designating the horse
Snowrnane, but which is an archaism. Yet we are dso served with a repetition, not a syntactic one,
but an intensifier nonetheless. The repetition is of course, engendered by " p s s ... into green" and
''white feet of his steed": it is at least evocative of Théoden's banner 'bvhite horse on a field of
green." So the multiple levels of imagery and symbolisrn are maintained Not ody does Théoden
appear, now, as a go4 but he is the embodiment of his house's banner. The phenornenon of legends
springing from the grass, or in this case a banner, is perpeniated, and the king's temporary
transcendence into a character of myth is reinforced.
Yet Théoden suddenly disappears fkom this Iast paragraph. He is no longer named or
denominated. This is probably omission as Labov b t e d , and it is probably deliberate. That is, even
though his army is elevated to the high mùnetic or even the romantic level, the king himselfis at this
moment even loftier than they are. And so, to him m u t happen what, according to Tolkien and
Campbell, happened to the elves and to the gods: he is present but becomes invisible. This, beyond
151
simple omission, may be seen as an evaiuation in itself, that the king's status as god is accompanied
by the action of rendering him absent in body, but neariy omnipresent in wiU; it is, again, an
intensifying feature of the evaluative scheme. It is aiso supported by the r a m e n t syntactic structure
of assigning the passive to Théoden. He "couid not be overtaken," 'kas borne up on Snowmane,"
and fïna.iiy his shield 'kas uncovered" Tolkien has purposefully chosen the passive to describe these
events, and this is to give the impression that a power is acting upon Théoden or for him. It is not
he who uncovers his shield; it is uncovered, apparently, dl on its own, or else some other power had
done so.
This idea seems to receive more reinforcement from the long sentence which follows "and
the grass flarned into green," because the coming of the light is explained, suddenly, in physical
te=: "For moming came, momÏng and a wind fkom the sea." Moreover, ''rnorning~~ is repeated,
thus it is intensified. Note that "morning came" has a structure which is active, as opposed to the
passive structure which was in effect for the description of Théoden's actions. Then the passive is
reinstated, but for "darbess": "and darkness was removed." Again, with darbess, there is a
comparator: darkness is "removed," like a veil or the weight on someone's shoulders. Yet despite
Théoden's effective physical absence eom the rest of the passage, his coming is simultaneous with
that of the moming and the removal of the darkness. And the total effect, as it were, exposes us to
the "and" cannonade which follows, where the effect of the coming of light, against the "hosts of
Mordor," is evaluated.
Again, it will be usefixi to display the rest of the above sentence in a labovian breakdown:
conj . subj. aux. verb obj. etc ...
Observe that each clause is a narrative clause. As well, there is, once again, ample syntactic
repetition to intensiQ the action. The action unfolds at a much faster syntactic rate in this section
than in any other area of the entire passage, fkom paragaph I to parapph 4, creating a contrast in
that respect. Moreover, the rnetaphorical action of terror taking the "hosts of Mordor," helps to
evaluate it as an acnial presence, sornething that accompanies the Riders of Rohan and physically
ai& them. And "the hoofs of wrath" helps to identify the riding of the Rohirrirn as one of almost
deific power. Indeed, this sentence benefits fiom d l of the evaluation which takes place prior,
slowing the action, explicating one or another facet of the charge and of the events which surround
it; it is the bursting of the dam, so to speak, and we have witnessed dl of the groaning and trembling
of the stones before, at last, the power of the torrent shatten their cohesion. In other words, the
power of this latest sentence and barrage of "and" clauses, wodd be fa. less if it had not been set,
as it is, in a larger field of evaluative devices.
1 L
2
3
4
5 I
6
We corne at 1 s t to the final sentence, which descnbes the immediate afiermath of the charge
of the Riden. "And then aU the host of Rohan bwst into song," is given the in tens iwg of ''bburst"
which is expressive phonology on behalf of Théoden's army. The whole sentence is centered on the
Song of the Riden, in fact, and it is repeated three times throughout, as "song," "sang," and
"singing." "And they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their
and
and
and
and
and
and
darkness
the hosts of Mordor
terror
the^
Weyl
the hoofs of -th
was removed,
wailed,
took
f le4
died,
rode
them,
over them.
153
singing that was fair and temble came even to the City." Notice the &teration in "sang as they
slew" and "sound of their singing," which serves once again to intemi@ the element of "90 sing."
Aiso, it is explicated through "for the joy of battle was on hem," which draws our attention away
fiom the banle and to their singing, as weil as to the reason why they are singing. Another apparently
explicative element is the subordinate clause "that was fair and temble," which describes the singing
of the Rohirrirn. However, it does not conform to Labov's d e that explicatives, foliowing the
conjunaion (in this case 'that"), m u t be in the form of complete ciauses; yet it is a qualifjrîng
element! The question, now, is "is this clause an explicative or not?"
There is no question that it is evaluative, at the very least acting as an intensifier through the
paradoxical "fair and temble," but what prevents it fkom being stricdy one or the other, that is
expIicative or intensifier? The answer lies in the g e m d "singing." Though it has the form of a verb,
it does not act as one, and in the case of Labov's explicatives, a verb is required before the
conjunction after which the complete clause is expected. Yet, again, as it is, accompanied by the
conjunction "that," its position cannot be aitered in the sentence: '?he sound of their singing" must
precede %at was fair and temble." Token may have written, instead, "and the fair and temble
sound of their singing ..." But this would not have had the same effect. Rather, consciously or not,
Tolkien has placed "that was fair and temble" in a quantifuing role, as a separate subordinate clause
which also happens to take the place of an actual explicative. Hence, it is not only intensiS>uig but
explicating the singing of the Riden.
The final aspect of their singing is that it "came even to the City." Ifwe recall, fkom where
the Riders are standing in paragraph 2, the City's topmost tower look like a "giittering needle," and
154
this serves to evaluate their distance fiom i t Though they would presumably have come closer to
Minas Tirith in their charge, their singing is now evaluated by the distance that still separates them
fkom the City. This is done through "even" which is a quantifier and serves to re-evaluate their
distance. What it tells us is that their singing is not only "fair and terrible" but it is also loud: they
are singing a battle-song. They have come to battle upon the fields of the Pelemor, and so far, ii is
going weil and the forces of Mordor are fleeing before hem, and that is how that chapter ends.
Conclusion
Though the primary goal of this thesis is to give stylistic evidence of the literariness of
Tokien's writings, throughout chapters 1,2 and 3 ,I have kept mostly silent on the issue of literature.
This is due to the fact that I wished to keep the discussion away fkom a subject which, as was stated
in the Introduction, is fa. fkom being fiee fiorn debate; that is "what is literature?" and "is Tolkien's
w r i ~ g literaxy?" Rather, 1 allowed the analyses to speak for themselves. In the first chapter, we saw
that Tolkien was able to provide us with at least one example of verse that should porbably not be
described as "bad." In the second chapter, we saw in The Hobbit that Tolkien's capacity for keeping
a strict balance in the conversations between his characters in this case the line between humour
and disaster displays a strong talent in the art of depicting conversations. And, hally, in Chapter
3, we were again remindeci, in the case of his prose, that Tolkien is far fkom writing '%rash," and that
in accordance with his use of evaluation he was an excellent narrator. Ifthese aspects are necessary
for an author's work to be deemed literary, then, dong with aii the factual evidence that other
researchers have uncovered relating to plot, symbolism and so forth, The Hobbit and The Lord of
the Rines must be considered as literary works. Yet though the facets of his works which 1 have
explored have never been shown as precisely, through the use of specific literary and linguistic
theories, they have been hown to most Tolkien scholan since the beginning. Why is it, then, that
even today critics are ofien shy of asserting J.R.R. ToIkien7s particularly literary skills in the art of
156
narrative and even poetry? Bnan Rosebmy, for example, in his book Tolkien: a Critical Assessment,
States,
Vimially al1 readers [of Rosebury's book], however, are Likely to have some impression of Toikien's curent reputation, even if they are unfamiliar with his works. It is not, as 1 believe it should be, the reputation of a moderately important literary figure of the middle of the twentieth centqc a reputation comparable to that of, Say, Poe or Peacock among nineteenth-century writers. It is essentially the reptation of a best-seller.'
A "'moderately important literary figure7'? Here is literary criticism at its best, or wont. Devoid of
any hguistically enhanced svlistic information, this kind of statement is too much a compromise
with less constructive criticism of the kind displayed by WiIson, in the Introduction. Any
"important" author can be deemed "moderately important" at need, even Shakespeare or Tennyson.
But the attitude displayed in this statement, and the action commined by it, shunts aside the genre
of "fantasy" as one that is minor, or even non-literary.' if the statement included fantasy as a literary
not just '%est-selling" genre, then the nebulous, but in intent belittling, word "moderate" codd
be done away with. This is so because we know thak for the fantasy genre alone, Tolkien has been
a central figure, a writer of the greatest importance and influence. A closer look, as we have taken
above, reveals him to be a master of the art of story-telling, an analogue of the Beowulfpoet; those
who consider Beowulf to be literature would probably think the same of The Lord of the Rings, at
least, if only for the nearly parallel motif which Frodo explicates: 'Tt must ofien be so, Sam, when
things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."'
Yet, that Rosebury7s book tries to find a middle ground between the cLmodexn" and the "014"
and between the "conventional strategies of contemporary cnticism" and the unconventionalily of
' Brian Rosebury, Toikien: a Critical Assessment (New York: St-Martin's Press, 1992) 1. %e Lord of the Rings 1067.
the work(s) that they scrutinïze, is obvious:
At ail events, in this book 1 hope to write about the works of J-R-R-Tolkien without t a h g leave of any of my senses, and especiaily without taking leave of a plausible general view of literary aesthetics and Literary history. This book will not praise Tolkien by disparaging ail, or mosf or even many of his contemporaries; it wiIl not suggest that Tokien is so extraordinary a writer as to be incommensurable with ail other writers (though his works do have distinctive feanires which need to be achowledged); it will not plead the superiority of the 'mythic mode' to the 'realist mode', or of traditional romance to other, tiresomely 'modem' forms of literature; it wiIl not substitute for literary analysis the classification of imaginq beings, places and sacred objects; it will not, 1 hope, rhapsodise, make coy puns on Tolkien's nomenclature, use metaphon borrowed f?om his works at every opportunity ('Tolkien prose flows as boldly as the Great River Anduin', etc.) or play the game of pretending that Middle-earth really exists. And it will not detain the reader with excerpts kom the autobiography of a devotee. What the book will aim to do is to understand and evaluate Toikien's works as compositions, that is, as products of literary art which are for readers aesthetic experiences.'
From a truly arbitrary point of view, could this be achieved, the proposition is sound, although the
"book," so far, as Rosebury says himself, has been but "disparaging" and mocking some of the
contemporary criticism of Tolkien's works. Yet is the '' plausible general view of literary aesthetics
and literary history" capable of the understanding that is required for it to give credit where it is due?
Consider the following quote fkom Rosebury, later in the book:
Where, on the other hand, there is unmotivated narrative movement, the effect can be faintly meretricious. The clearest case is the inversion of chronological order which allows the 'surprise' of Aragom's arriva1 during the Battle of the Pelemor Fields, before the besieged w d s of Minas Tirith. The black sails of Sauron's allies, the Coaairs, appear up the river but the ships contain Aragom and his host, who have overthrown the Conairs and liberated their galley-slaves. Despite a surge of triumphant rhetoric ('the mirth of the Rohùrim was a torrent of laughter and a flashing of swords, and the joy of the city was a music of trumpets and a ringing of beils') the episode fails to be the emotional climax of the battle, just because it cornes out of the blue and not out of a developed situation. (The true climax is formed by the deaths of Théoden and the Witch-King, which both have complex resonances from far back in the narrative.) The subsequent retrospective account of the capture of the ships namted by Legolas and GimLi to Pippin has an inevitably dutiful and 'staged'
- - -
Rosebury 2-3.
quality, as Tolkien hunself was aware.4
The reasoning is strange, how Toikien may have believed exactly what Rosebury is saying he did
The passage fiorn which he derives "as Tolkien himselfwas aware" foliows:
Obviously the chief problem of this sort, is how to bring up Aragorn unexpectedly to the raising of the Siege, and yet inforrn readers of what he had been up to. Told in full in its proper place (Vol III, ch.2), though it would have been berter for the episode, it would have destroyed Chapter 6. Told in full, or indeed in part, in retrospect it would be out of date and hold up the action (as it does in Chapter 9).
The solution, imperfect, was to cut d o m the whole episode (which in fidl would belong rather to a Saga ofAragorn Arathom S son than to my story) and tell the ending of it briefly during the inevitable pause afier the Battie of the Pelemor?
Not once is the word "staged" use& as Rosebury seems to imply, nor is this passage quoted in his
book; rather, it is simply referred to. Perhaps he is giossing over the fact? Yet what Tolkien seems
to be saying is not really concomitant with what Rosebury asserts. Tolkien seems not at all to have
considered the arrivai of Aragom as the 4'cLimax" of the Battle of the Pelenn~r.~ That cornes when
Éowyn, with the aid of Merry, slays the Witch-King.' The death of T'héodeq8 afier the Chapter 5
climax of his charge against the hosts of Mordor, is secondary to that event. Thus Aragorn's arrival,
though it saves the City and the Rohimm, is pertinently treated as the third in importance among
these events, not by any means the climax. So how bringing Aragoni's arrivai "out of a developed
situation" is to enhance it as the climax of the battle is neither here nor there: it is a non-existent
concem. But to create the scenario that it is the climax, and that ToLkien somehow failed at
something that he did not even attempt, is preposterous; furthemore it points to the fact either that
the critic is being forcefully arbitmy, finding fault where there is none for the sake of 'posterity,"
'' Rosebury 59. ' The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 258. The Lord of the Rings 88 1. ' The Lord of the Rings 875. The Lord of the Rings 876.
or he has blatantly misread the text at hand and is definitely not in a position to make an adequate
critical study of his subject
Tolkien criticism is, in fact, riddled with such compromises between incompatible thought
processes: the h t that literature is only so, and that only '"realist"' fiction (not science fiction or
fantasy, except in some rare cases) is worthy of the name. Too many serious critics are embarrassed
by those less serious adulators whom Rosebury rnocks in his quote, above. Even Shippey, whom 1
have fotmd to be an eloquent speaker on behalf of Toikien, seems to give in to this need for
compromise in a criticism of The Silmarillion:
None of this, however, waves away the very nearly prophetic remark by Frodo sitting on 'The Stairs of Cinth Ungol' in The Two Towers. Sam Gamgee has just given a summary of the tale of Beren and Luthien, and remarked that he and Frodo appear to be in the same tale: perhaps some hobbit-child in the future wu demand the story of 'Frodo and the Ring'. Yes, says Frodo, and he will demand 'Samwise the stouthearted' too: '1 want to hear more about Sam, dad Why didn't they put in more of his talk, dad? That's what 1 like, it makes me laugh. ' This embryonic piece of literary criticism does make a point about The SilmariZZion, which is that it is ail on the level of 'hi& mimesis' or 'romance', with no Gamgees in it?
What he is expressing here is that The Lord of the Rines and The Hobbit achieve their success partly
because they offer the low-mimetic/ironic hobbits to mitigate the effect of the high-rnimetic/romantic
and even rnythica.1 world in which they Live, upon a modem audience on which these latter qualities
are too ofien lost. In fact Shippey is, himself, fuLfilIing in the case of The Silmarillion, what he had
claimed about The Lord of the Rings, offering his own piece of "embryonic criticism" to himself:
The critics he had in muid were critics of BeowuZf, but they were saying pretty much the same thing: BeowuZfdidn't work, it was intrinsically silly, and 'we weren't involved with it. 'Correct and sober taste', Tolkien wrote, 'may refuse to admit that there can be an interest for us the proud we that includes al1 intelligent living people in ogres and dragons; we then perceive its puzzlement in face of the odd fact that it has derived great pleasure fkom a poem that is actually about these unfishionable creatures.' Tolkien had not, in 1936, realised
Shippey 239.
how qyickly 'correct and sober taste' could stamp 'pdement ' ou5 and 'pleanire' dong with i t However, for the rest he might just as well have been writing about responses to nie Lord ofthe Rings. No doubt he would have felt honoured, in a way, to £hd hirnself as the Beowulf-poet m g critics to take refuge in threadbare and hopeless ' ~ e ' s ' . ' ~
That is, the high-mimetic-to-rnythicd character of The Silmarillion, though it does not eiicit an
explicit 'we' nom Shippey, attracts nom him a response similar to that which is reserved for
Beowulf by the "we" critics, as he speaks of them above. In a sense, he has invoked a 'kre," since
the bias of his statement is definitely directed at the 'ke" of a modem audience. Were the audience
more ancient, that is were the Anglo-Saxons themselves to read The Silmarillion, the low-mimetic
concem would disappear.
Let me, now, recalI Rosebirry's "general view of literary aesthetics and literary history." He
seerns to impty by this a "history of literary criticism" as weli as "literary history." But literary
criticism as it is understood by both Rosebury and Shippey is a tool that was developed mostly in
the 19' and early 20" centuy. However, art, linguistics and Literature have al1 significantiy evolved
since then, and a literary critic who chooses to make specific claims, especially about the language
or art of a text, does so at herhis own risk, if the intent was to make a serious, in-depth criticism.
Otherwise, it has become a rather superficial practice which may offer usefûl insights on traditional
qualities such as plot and symbolism in texts written in a certain style, but cannot t d y offer
extensive stylistic%guistic or even artistic comments without taking into account the vast advances
that have been made in these disciplines since the beginning of the 20" century.
But a M e r problem that pure literary criticism (that is "literary cxiticism" as it was
'O Shippey 3.
understood in the 19" and early 2om centuries) encounters is that it is dated, not only in the sense that
it c a ~ o t adequately give deep analyses of many contemporary texts, but that it cannot do so for older
texts, such as Beowulf et al., either. This is so because it was developed at a time when most scholars
considered Beowulf in particular as a non-literary work, as Tolkien pointed out in 1936:
There is an histoncal explanation for the state of BeowuIfiuna that 1 have referred to. And that explanation is important, if one would venture criticism of the critics. A sketch of the history of the subject is required. But 1 will here only attempt, for brevity's sake, to present my view of it allegorically. As it set out upon its adventures among modem scholars, Beowurfwas christened by W d e y Poesis Poeseos Anglo-Smonicae e@um a m p l u m . But the fajr godrnother later invited to superintend its fomines was Historia And she brought with her Philologia, Mythologia, Archaeologia, and Laographia Excellent ladies. But where was the child's name-sake? Poesis was usually forgotten; occasionally admitted by the side-door; sometimes dismissed upon the door-step. 'The Beowulf, they said, 5s hardly au affair of yours, and not in any case a protégé that you could be proud of. It is an historical document Only as such does it interest the nipenor culture of today.' And it is as an historical document that it has mainiy been examined and dissected. Though ideas as to the nature and quality of the history and infornation embedded in it have changed much since Thorkelin cailed it De D a n o m Rebus Gestir, this has remauied steadily mie. In still recent pronouncements this view is explicit In 1925 Professor Archi'bdd Strong translated Beowulf into verse; but in 192 1 he had deciared: 'Beowur is the pictue of a whole civilization, of the Gemania which Tacitus describes. The main interest which the poem has for us is thus not a purely literary interest Beowu[fis an important historical document."'
So if the discipline of literary criticism cannot offer tnily effective cnticism for ancient works such
as Beowulf, how is it to do so for a work that is heavily influenced by thern, and, in its own way,
offers many of the same obsenrations about the nature of what it is to be human? The question is
again one of style and not only of subject matter (Le. 'fantasy'):
Several writers have suggested recently that the toolkit of the professional critic at this time is too small: it does not work at al1 on whole genres of fiction (especially faatasy and science-fiction, but including also the btdk of 'entertainment' fiction, i.e. what people most commonly read). Furthemore it has a strong tendency to falsify much of what it does attempt to explain by assimilating it, often unconsciously, to f d l i a r models."
So both t h e , in the sense of when the work was written, and style play a role in how a particular
" 'The Monsters and the Critics" and Other Essavs 6. " Shippey 29 1.
162
work of fiction is to be regarded by litemry &CS, if we are to accept that most of thek critical
formulae are derived fiom the 19" and early 20m centuries.
Thus, in this contex& chapters 1,2 and 3 of this thesis have aU been attempts to give a wider
critical perspective to Toikien's works. His skill with ancient forms was investigated, as well as his
a b i l i ~ to intemeave certain semantic and lexical elements that, should we research them M e r , are
found to enhance and f d f y his symbolic scheme. We also nirveyed his treatment of conversations
arnong characters, using a method more complex than what is usual for a literary cntic; that is, using
three different theories that deal in one way or another with conversation, we were able to develop
the notion that Toikien had a deep understanding of the phenomenon and that his characters
(especialiy Gandalf) are the vehicle through which he displayed this understanding. Furthemore, we
gained a more informed impression of his skill as a narrator and story-teller through how he
evaluated his text or how he made his point to his readers, both syntactically and symbolically. Nor,
1 believe, should this type of analysis be restricted only to Toikien, or only to those passages which
1 have chosen above. Different linguistic and descriptive literary theories should also be applied. The
benefit is that, despite our iiterary "taste," we may yet arrive at a conclusion, about any given work,
that is animated by analyses which better highlight its strong-points. Such analyses might then Save
us fiom relying too much on our h t impression of a work and give us pause surprise us in the
discovery of important (and often pleasant) aspects that we would othenvise have missed.
Appendk A: excerpt fiom The Hobbit @p. 107 to 1 14)
Soon they reached a cointyard, three walis of which were formed by the wooden house and its two long wings. In the middle there was lying a great oak-tnink with many lopped branches beside i t Standing near was a huge man with a thick black beard and hair, and great bare a m and legs with knotted muscles. He was clothed in a tunic of wool down to his lmees, and was leaning on a large axe. The horses were standing by him with their noses at his shoulder.
'Vgh! here they are!" he said to the horses. T h e y don't look dangerous. You can be off!" He laughed a great r o h g laugh, put down his axe and came forward.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked g d y , standing in fiont of them and towering tall above GandaE As for Bilbo he could easily have trotted through his legs without ducking his head to miss the fringe of the man's tunic.
"1 am Gandalf," said the wizard- "Never heard of him," growled the man, "And what's this little fellow?" he said, stooping
d o m to fiown at the hobbit with his bushy black eyebrows. 'That is Mr Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation," said Gandalf.
Bilbo bowed. He had no hat to take off, and was painfbily conscious of his many missing buttons. '9 am a wkard," continued GandaK "1 have heard of you, if you have not heard of me; but perhaps you have heard of me good cousin Radagast who lïves near the Southem borders of Mirkwood?"
"Yes; not a bad feilow as wizards go, I believe. 1 used to see him now and again," said Beom. "Well, now I know who you are, or who you Say you are. What do you want?"
"To tell the tmth, we have lost our luggage and nearly lost our way, and are rather in need of help, or at least of advice. 1 may Say we have had rather a bad time with goblins in the mountains."
"Goblins?" said the big man -y. "O ho, so you've been having trouble with them have you? What did you go near them for?"
"We did not mean to. They surprised us at night in a p a s which we had to cross, we were coming out of the Lands over West into these countries it is a long tale."
"Then you had better corne inside and teli me some of it, if it won't take al1 day," said the man leading the way through a dark door that opened out of the courtyard into the house.
Following him they found themselves in a wide hall with a fire-place in the middle. Though it was summer there was a wood-fie buming and the smoke was nsing to the blackened rafters in search of some way out through an opening in the roof. They passed through this d . hall, lit only by the fie and the hole above it, and came through another smailer door into a sort of veranda propped on wooden posts made of single tree-ûxnks. It faced south and was still warm and fiIled with the light of the westering sun which slanted into it, and fell golden on the garden fidl of flowen that came right up to the steps.
Here they sat on wooden benches while Gandalfbegan his tale, and Bilbo swung his dangling legs and looked at the flowers in the garden, wondering what their names could be, as he had never seen half of them before.
"1 was coming over the mountains with a niend or two..." said the wizard. "Or two? 1 c m only see one, and a little one at that," said Beorn. "Well to tell you the tnith, 1 did not like to bother you with a lot of us, until I found out if you
were busy. 1 will give a call, if 1 may."
"Go on, c d away!" So Gandalfgave a long whistie, and presentiy Thorin and Don came round the house by the
garden path and stood bowing Iow before them. "One or three you meant, I see!" said Beorn. "But these aren't hobbits, they are dwarves!" 'Thorin Oakenshield, at your s e ~ c e ! Dori at your service!" said the two dwarves bowing
again. '4 don? need your service, thank you," saÎd Beom, "'but 1 expect you need mine. 1 am not
over fond of dwarves; but if it is true that you are Thorin (son of Thram, son of Thror, 1 believe), and that your cornpanion is respectable, and that you are enemies of goblins and are not up to any mischief in my lands what are you up to, by the way?
They are on their way to visit the land of their fathers, away east beyond Mirkwood," put in Gan- "and it is entirely an accident that we are in your lands at dl. We were crossing by the High Pass that should have brought us to the road that lies to the souîh of your country, when we were attacked by the evil goblins as 1 was about to tell you"
"Go on telling, then!" said Beorn, who was never very polite. 'There was a temble storm; the stone-giants were out hurling rocks, and at the head of the
pass we took refuge in a cave, the hobbit and 1 and several of our cornpanions ..." 'Do you c d two several?" "Well, no. They don? seem al l to have come when 1 whistled. Shy, 1 expect You see, we are
very rnuch dhid that we are rather a lot for you to entertain." "Go on, whistle again! 1 am in for a party, it seems, and one or two more won7 make much
difference," growled Beom. Gandalfwhistled again; but Non and Ori were there almost before he had stopped, for, if you
remember, Gandaif had told them to come in pairs every five minutes. 'Wullo!" said Beom. T o u came pretty quick where were you hiding? Come on my jack-in-
the-boxes !" 'Nori at your service, Ori at -2' they began; but Beom interrupted them. "Tharzk you! When I want your service 1 shall ask for it. Sit down, and let's get on with this
tale, or it will be supper-time before it is ended." "As soon as we were asleep," went on Gandalf, "a crack at the back of the cave opened;
goblins came out and grabbed the hobbit and the dwarves and our troop of ponies " '"Troop of ponies? What were you a travelling circus? Or were you canying lots of goods?
Or do you always cal1 six a troop?" "O no! As a matter of fact there were more than six ponies, for there were more than six of
us and well, here are two more!" Just at that moment, Balin and Dwalin appeared and bowed so low that their beards swept the Stone floor. The big man was fiowning at fkt, but they did their ba t to be fiightfiilly poiite, and kept on nodding and bending and bowing and waiving their hoods before their hees (in proper dwarf fashion), till he stopped fiowning and burst into a chuckling laugh: they looked so cornical.
'Troop, was right," he said. "A fine comic one. Come in, my merry men, and what areyour names? 1 don? want your seMce just now, only your names; and then sit d o m and stop wagging!"
"Balin and Dwalin," they said not daring to be offended, and sat flop on the floor looking rather surprised.
"Now go on again," said Beorn to the wizard. 'Where was I? O yes 1 was not grabbed. 1 killed a goblin or two with a flash " "Good!" growled Beorn, "it is some good being a wizard, then."
" and siipped inside the crack before it closed I foliowed down into the main haIl, which was crowded with goblins. The Great Goblin was there with th- or forty armed guards. I thought to myself "even if we were not ali chained together, what c m a dozen do against so many?" "
"A dozen! That's the first Mie I've heard eight called a dozen. ûr have you stiil got some jacks that haven't yet come out of their boxes?"
'Weil, yes, there seem to be a couple more here now Fili and Kili, 1 believe," said GanM, as these two now appeared and stood smiling and bowing.
"That's enough!" said Beom. "Sit down and be quiet! Now go on Gandalf?" So Gandalfwent on with the tale, until he came to the fight in the dark, the discovery of the
lower gate, and their horror when they found that Mr Baggins had been mislaid. 'We counted ourselves and found that there was no hobbit. There were only fourteen of us lefk!"
''Fourteen! That's the h t time I've heard one ~ o m ten leave fourteen. You mean nine, or else you haven7t told me yet ail the names of your party-"
'Weil, of course you haven't seen Oin and Gloin yet. And, bless me! Here they are. I hope you will forgive them for bothering you."
"O let 'em all come! Hurry up! Come dong, you two, and sit down! But look here, Gandalf' even now we have only got yourself and ten dwarves and the hobbit that was lost That ody makes eleven @lus one mislaid) and not fourteen, unless wizards count differently to other people. But now please get on with the tale." Beom did not show it more than he couid help, but he really had begun to get very interested. You see, in the old days he had known the very part of the mountains that Gandalfwas describing. He nodded and he growled, when he heard of the hobbit's reappearance and of their scramble down the stone-siide and of the wolf-ring in the woods.
When Gandalfcame to thekclimbing into treeswith the wolves ail undemeath, he got up and strode about and muttered: '7 wish 1 had been there! I would have given them more than fïreworks!"
"Well," said Gandalf, very glad to see that his tale was making a good impression, "1 did the best I could. There we were with the wolves going mad undemeath us and the forest beginning to blaze in places, when the goblins carne d o m f?om the hills and discovered us. They yelled with delight and sang songs making fun of us. Fifteen birdr Nifivefirtrees ..."
"Good heavens!" growled Beorn. Don't pretend goblins can't count. Twelve isn't fifteen and they know it."
"And so do 1. There were Bifk and Bofur as well. 1 haven't ventured to introduce them before, but here they are."
In came Bifur and Bofur. 'And me!" gasped Bombur p f i g up behïnd. He was fat, and also angry at being left till last. He refused to wait five minutes, and followed immediately after the other two.
"Well, now there are fifteen of you; and since goblins can count, 1 suppose that is al1 that there were up in the trees. Now perhaps we can finish this story without m e r interruptions." Mr Baggins saw then how clever Gandalf had been. The interruptions had realiy made Beom more interested in the story, and the story had kept him fYom sending the dwarves off at once like suspicious beggars. He never invited people into his house, if he could help it. He had very few fÎineds and they Lived a good way away; and he never invited more than a couple of these to his house at a time. Now he had got fifteen strangers sitting on his porch!
Appendix B : Labovian dissection of passage analysed in Chapter 3
Paragraph 1
obj. etc
it at last, (suddenly) beyond doubt:
conj. subj. aux. verb.
a change.
feh Then
WreI
Wind - --
in his face!
M e r v
[w=I
was
the cIouds (dirnly)(Far,fa. away, in the South) as remote grey shapes,
beyond them.
Paragraph 2
# conj. subj. aux.
6 1 But 1 there 1 1 lightning 1 had
verb. obj. etc
fiom beneath the City. 1 was
1 it (the city) 1
(at that same moment) a flash,
stood 1 (For a searing second) 1 - -
far off in black and white, 1 1 its topmost tower 1 like a glittering needle;
O l n 1 the darimess closed
I 1 there 1 came roihg 1 over the fields a great boom- 1
subj. aux. verb. obj. etc conj.
the bent shape of suddenly erect (At that sound).
and rising in hiç stimips
he cried 1 in a loud voice,
1 had 1 heard 1 (ever)(there)(more clear)
1 achieve 1 before: a mortai man I (riders of Théoden ! )
T - -
(FeIZ deeds)fire and slaugh ter!
shield be s p h tered,
Lis] 1 a red day, - - pp
the sun 23 1 ere
Ride
Ride 1 to Gondor!
With that seized a great hom £kom Guthlafhis bamer-bearer, 1
and blew such a blast upon it
burst asunder, that
And all the homs in the 1 were 1 lifted up 1 in music (straightway), 1 host 1 1 1 1
and the blowing of the homs of Rohan
was (in that hour) Like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains,
coni. subi.
1 the king
now
now!
to Gondor!
32
33
34
and ( the horse
Ride
ride
Ride
his bamer
but 1 he
the knights of his house,
but 1 he
the white horsetail on his helm
the fiont of the first éored
like 1 a breaker
but Théoden
the bartle-fury of his fathers
aux. verb. obj. etc T
cried (Suddenly) to Snowmane
(Behind him) in the wind, white hone upon a field of green,
-
outpaced it.
thundered (Mer him)
was ever before them.
1 rode [ there, 1
I floating 1 in his speed,
1 foaming ( on the shore, 1 .
could be not overtaken.
seemed, F~Y) 1 like new fire in his ueins,
and --
was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battie of the Vdar
1 His golden shield 1 was 1 uncovered,
andlo! l i t iüce an image of the Sun, I and into green about the white feet
of his steed. 1 For momUig(moming,
and a wind fkom the sea) ;
came,
and 1 darknesi
and 1 the hosts of Mordor 1 1 waileà,
and 1 terror I 1 took them, I and 1 they 1 Ined,
and 1 the hoofs of-& 1 1 rode over them. I And then al1 the host of 1 Rohan
into Song,
and 1 the^ 1 1 Sang
on them, I for ( the joy of battle 1 1 1 - -
and 1 the uuod ofkeir singing I 17 even to the City.
(that) 1 [ the sound of ...] 1 1 (ws) (fair and terrible) 1
Bibliograpby
Alexander, Michael. Beowulf ed Michael Alexander. London: Penguin Books, 1995.
Ailan, Jim. An Introduction to Elvish : and Other Toneues and Pro~er Names and Writing - Systems
of the Third Aze of Middle-earth as Set Forth in the Published Writings of Professor John
Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Hayes: Bran's Head, 1978.
Atto, Arthur Thomas. The Nibelmgenlied. ed. Arthur Thomas Atto. London: Penguui Books, 1965.
Book-of-the-Month Club, inc. A Reader's Cornpanion to The Hobbit and nie Lord of the Rings.
New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1995.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2" ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1968.
Carpenter, Humphrey. J.R.R Toikien: A Bioeraphv. London: George Allen & Unwin Publishers,
1977.
Chickering, Howell D., Jr. BeowulE A Dual Lanmaee Edition. New York: Anchor
Press/Doubleday, 1977.
Crossley-HoUand, Kevin, ed. and trans. The Annlo-Saxon World. London: Oxford Universi5 Press,
1982.
Cummings, Michael, and Robert Simmons. The Lanampe of Literature: A Stviistic Inwduction to
the S t u d ~ of Literature. Willowdale, Canada: Pergamon Press, 1983.
Curry, Patrick. Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien. Mvth and Modemitv. New York: St. M h ' s
Press, 1997.
Doughan, David. "An Ethnically Cleansed Faery? Toikien and the Matter of Britain." Mallom:
The Jounial of the Tolkien Sociep. 30 (1995)
171
Gof ian , Enring. "On Face-Work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction." The
Joumal of Pmchiatrv 8 (1955): 213 - 29.
Fleiger, Verlyn. A Ouestion of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Road to Faërîe. Kent, Ohio: Kent State
University Press, 1997.
Fleiger, Verlyn. S plintered Li&: Lanmia~e and Loeos in Tolkien's World. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983.
Fowler, Roger. Linaistic Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1 986.
Giddings, Robert, and Elizabeth Holiand. J.R.R. Toikien: The Shores of Middle-earth. London:
Junction Books, 198 2 .
Gigholi, Pier Paolo, ed. Languae and Social Context London: Penguin Books, 1990.
Grice, H. Paul. "Logic and Conversation". Studies in the Wavs of Words. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1 9 89.
Hall, J.R. Clark A Concise Anglo-saxon Dictionary. 4'b ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1960.
Hammond, Wayne G. J.R.R. Tokien: A Descri~tive Bibliomhy. Winchester: St. Paul's
Bibliographies, 1993.
Harvey, David. The Sone of Middle-earth. London: George Allen and Unwin Publishers, 1985.
Huttar, Charles A. "Tolkien, Epic Traditions and the Golden Age Myth." Twentieth Centurv
Fantasists. ed. Kath Filmer. London : St. Martin's Press, 1992.
Hyde, Paul Nolan. Linguistic Techniaues Used in Character Development in the Works of
J.R.R. Tolkien. diss. 3 vols. Purdue University, 1979.
Isaacs, Neil D., Zimbardo, Rose A-, eds. Tolkien and the Critics: Essavs on J.R.R. Tolkien's The
Lord of the Rings. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.
Jones,
172
Gwynn. Eirik the Red and other Icelandic S a m . e d Gwynn Jones. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 196 1.
Labov, William. "The Transformation of Expenence in Narrative Syntax". Lanmiaee in the Inner
Citv : Studies in Black Enelish Vemacular. Philadelphia: Universiq of Pennsytvania Press,
1965.
Lônnrot, Elias. The Kalevala. ed. and T m . Keith Bosley. Oxford: Oxford Universiv Press, 1989.
Mitchell, Bruce and Fred C. Robinson. A Guide to Old Endish. 5b ed. Oxford: BlackwelI
Publishers, 1995,
Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Pàlsson. Nial's Saga. ed. Magus Magnusson and Hemiann
Pàlsson. London: Penguin Books, 1960.
Noel, Ruth S. The Lanmia~es of Tolkien's Middle-eh. Boston: Houghton Miftlin Company, 1980.
Reynolds, Patricia, and Glen H. GoodKnight, eds. Proceedin~s of the J.R.R. Tolkien Centenaw
Conference. KebIe Colleee. 1992. Oxford: The Tolkien Society, in conjuntion with The
Mythopoeic Press, 1995.
Rosebury, Brian. Tolkien: a Cntical Assessrnent New York: St-Mamn's Press, 1992.
Saly Mary and Farrel, Robert T. J.R.R. Tolkien,Scholar and Stowteller: Essavs in Memoriam.
Ithaca: Comell University Press, 1979.
Searle, John R. Exmession and Meanine : Snidies in the Theorv of S~eech Acts. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1 979.
Shippey, T.A. The Road to Middle-earth. London: Grafion, 1992
Spencer, John Walter, and Michael Gregory. "An Approach to the Study of Style." Linmistics and
S ~ l e . London: Oxford University Press, 197 1.
follaen, John Ronald Ruel. Book of Lost Tales 1. ed. Christopher Tolkien, London: Unwin
Paperbacks, 1987.
-. Book of h s t Tales 2. ed Christopher Token, London: Grafton, 1990.
-. The Fellowshir, of the Ring. London: George AUen and Unwin, 1954.
-. The Hobbit. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1937.
-. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. ed. Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien. London:
Unwin Paperbacks, 198 1.
-. The Lord of the Rings. London: Harper Collins hiblishers, 1968.
-. "The Monsters and the Critics" and Other Essavs. ed. Chnstopher Tolkien. London: George
Allen & Unwin, 1983.
-. The R e m of the King London: George Allen & U n e , 1954.
-. The Silmarillion. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
-. Sir Gawain and the Green Knieht. ed. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. London: Unwin Paperbacks,
1975.
-. Tree and Leaf. London: Unwin Books, 1964.
-. The Two Towers. London: George Ailen & Unwin, 1954.
--. Unfinished Tales. e d Christopher Toikien. London: Grafton, 1990.
Traugotî, Elizabeth Closs, and Mary Louise Pratt. Lineuistics for Students of Literature. New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, PubIishers, 1980.
Top Related