How hard and long was it, Aragorn?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

(I just lurve close reading, in case you haven't noticed.)

I sometimes oppose to close-reading novels for litte details as such, because I have the feeling that half the time all these little bums and holes in the wording were put without intention by the author, and we are trying to make odds and ends out of them. This time, though, the wording really stands out. It could have been about rhythm, but there are so many other ways to say it with a rhythm but without the awkward phrasing (like, "My LIFE was HARD and LONG" - iambic rhythm, but rhythm nonetheless).

So it is probably the second thing that you said.

But then, the beginning of the sentence is also a bit awkward: "I have had a hard life and a long". Why "have had", and not just one or the other, or a different word altogether (like "lead")? As in, it was that way until I took the responsibility to take care of Frodo upon myself? Or meaning that he knows there's great danger ahead and his life is very likely to be cut short?

It's odd.