'The Harp in Middle-earth', Norbert Maier

[Bêthberry]

I second Faramir's praise for this chapter. I think it's great strength lies in Norbert Maier's ability to convey his great love of the harp through a thoughtful and well-considered study of Tolkien's references and languages. It enriches his thoughts on Tolkien and thus ours as well.

I think particularly the lines Maier quotes from Beowulf are applicable to the argument: "the joyous sound of the singing wood". Who of us does not recognise the importance of wood--forests and trees--in Tolkien. And how wonderful that the trees have further life and meaning in the form of a musical instrument.

Maier's argument that we--Tolkien's modern readers--have an acoustic memory of the harp because it is an instrument known to us, and which we bring to any of the text's mentions of that instrument's music, is quite intriguing, especially for those who are interested in Tolkien's attempts to reach his audience in ways that the more 'regular' modernist writers did not.

If I have one little quibble it is that I wish he could have explained briefly the difference between the harp and the lyre, which he notes is incorrectly placed in Galadriel's hands by one illustrator. While a guild member such as himself will obviously know and understand the difference, many readers of Tolkien probably don't and I think that little bit of clarification for the fans who are the audience of this book would have been helpful and would not have detracted from his explanation of why Tolkien chose the harp.