[Guinevere]

Like Bethberry I find Tolkien's portreyal of the Rohirrim culture one of the most striking and intriguing things in this chapter.

It is the style, though, that I find particularly interesting, for here begins I think some of the strongest evidences of Tolkien's efforts to reimagine some of the features of archaic English in modern English form. The two paragraphs I have quoted have many sentences which begin not with their sugjects, but with subordinate clauses or prepositional phrases, or inversions. Tolkien uses style to begin to characterise this ancient culture. It is a stirring style, replete with an almost ritualistic formality which seems very suitable. Perhaps the most prominent of the specifically Old English style is the poem "Where now the horse and the rider?", with its high rate of alliteration and prominent, staccado-like rhythm. The short, pithy lines of this chapter, so many of which Estelyn has quoted in the first post here, also harken back to the kennings of Old English literature.

Already at my first reading Tolkien's beautiful language and different styles were one of the things that I especially loved , and after having gained more insight by reading Tom Shippey's book "Tolkien, Author of the Century" I appreciate it even more. It makes this ancient world all the more real , I feel I am in another time than my own. (Those who read the book translated to their mothertongue will unfortunately miss most of that effect, alas!)

"But to the Riders of the Mark it seems so long ago", said Aragorn, "that the raising of this house is but a memory of song, and the years before are lost in the mist of time. Now they call this land their home, their own, and their speech is sundered from their northern kin." Then he began to chant softly in a slow tongue unknown to the Elf and Dwarf; yet they listened, for there was a strong music in it.
"That, I guess, is the language of the Rohirrim," said Legolas; "for it is like to this land itself; rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains. But I cannot guess what it means, save that it is laden with the sadness of Mortal Men."

What Aragorn tells about the Rohirrim, might as well apply to the Anglo-Saxons, and what Legolas says about the language of Rohan is probably what Tolkien himself felt about the AngloSaxon language!

The "proverbs" that Estelyn mentioned are something I became aware of some time ago. I found them so intriguing I started looking for them in all Tolkien's works and collecting them. English not being my mothertongue, I am often not sure which ones are traditional proverbs and which ones Tolkien made up - they all sound so genuine! Like many things Tolkien wrote they are about something in the story, but at the same time they express a general, timeless truth.

I love the scene where Gandalf raises Theoden's spirit and kindles hope and courage in him. It's so much subtler and better than the horrible exorcism scene in the movie (sorry about the "movie-bashing", but somehow just those scenes that I didn't like make me appreciate the book scenes all the more!)