The Eagles' words being reminiscent of King James English may have more to do with the state of early 17th century English than biblicality of language; I wonder what the Psalms would sound like if they were translated verbatim from Davidic Hebrew to modern English, or to King James English?
In Letter #210, Tolkien critiques the abortive Zimmerman screenplay of the late 50's. One interesting statement made by Tolkien in this context is:
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In the book lembas has two functions. It is a 'machine' or device for making credible the long marches with little provision, in a world which as I have said 'miles are miles'. But that is realtively unimportant. It also has a much larger significance, of what one might hesitatingly call a 'religious' kind (my bold). This becomes later apparent, especially in the chapter 'Mount Doom' (III 213 and subsequently.
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There is a footnote to 'III 213', which runs like so:
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The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die ...... It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyondn the measure of mortal kind.
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The word "religious" is used in the first quote, and perhaps explained in the second. Is
lembas a religious emblem, or not?
I especially appreciate the reference to "veiled", as one or more of you have used it, for our discussion has served to reveal to me that emblems of religion (Catholic and ancient mythic) seem to be scattered all over LotR, but veiled. Which raises my original question perhaps in a fresh way. Is it perhaps a matter of craft rather than either/or?