[davem]

Originally Posted by LMP

Does the Translator Conceit function in this text and/or context? How? What does it achieve if it does function here? What does it not achieve?

It may prevent the spell being broken if that sudden burst of poesy seems out of place. Yet this is exactly the kind of thing we find in epic romance. Obviously if we read LotR as a novel it might not seem logical that Eomer should be capable of doing this at that moment. At the same time its possible to argue (as I have) that it is a traditional verse of the kind he's probably been hearing for a good few days & would therefore have been in his mind.

Also, knowing what we do of 'Tolkien the translator', we would have to say that its the kind of high flown style he tends towards given half a chance! There's also the possibility that one or more of the previous translators/redactors had the same tendency.

Another way we can account for the way this episode is presented is to consider who was actually participating in the event described. They were all Rohirrim (apart from Merry, who may or may not have been fully compos mentis at the time - & even if he was, by the time he came to give his account to Frodo he was a knight of the Mark). What we have is an account of a profoundly significant episode in Rohirric history told as they would have told it themselves. In other words, LotR is not reportage, it is a collection of personal histories, from different perspectives - which may account for the way the 'villains' are portrayed.

Of course, the Translator(s, compilers, redactors) conceit does provide Tolkien with a 'Get out of Jail free' card, but the value of that shouldn't be underestimated from our point of view as readers - it increases the chance that the spell will not be broken for us, & that we will have the chance (so rare in these days) of experiencing enchantment. But it does more than that - it provides us with a link to the 'actual' events. Because LotR, & the Legendarium as a whole, is presented in this way the illusion is created that the text we have is, at many removes, an account of 'what really happened'- even if not in exactly the way we read it - the details of speech & exactly who did what to whom may be open to question but something very like it did occur, once upon a time. Maybe its been romanticised, but perhaps that's the reason it survived to be passed down to us. As the Faerie Queen says to Smith: 'Better a little doll, maybe, than no memory of Faery at all'...

The Legendarium is a remnant of what was - the only remnant we have, & the fact that it may not be exactly what it claims to be(I'd refer you back to Findegil's statement), actually adds to the poignancy & enhances the sense of loss & yearning, because in the end LotR is less about 'facts' & more about meaning - specifically what the 'facts' meant to those who experienced them & to those who passed them on to us.