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*PARTY QUIZ* - Tolkien’s metaphors

squire
Half-elven


Sep 22 2020, 7:57pm

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*PARTY QUIZ* - Tolkien’s metaphors Can't Post

We all love how Tolkien’s language transports us to a world that exists only in the imagination. One way he does this is with figurative speech that applies images or qualities to objects or ideas in non-literal ways. That is, he uses metaphors. In the list below, can you do one or two things?

1. Identify where the sentence or phrase appears in The Lord of the Rings, as specifically as possible. If it is a quotation, identify the speaker and who he or she is speaking to.

2 (optional). Explain the meaning and usage of the metaphor. What does it convey to us about the object or idea being described?


The answers appear at the end, whited-out.


1. “Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder.”

2. [There] were great crevices and fissures blacker than the night, where forgotten winters had gnawed and carved the sunless stone.

3. …as he went on and it mounted to his knees, he felt that the stain of travel and all weariness was washed from his limbs.

4. [They] looked out, as it seemed to them, upon a great field of dark corn, tossed by a tempest of war, and every ear glinted with barbed light.

5. Far above the rot and vapours of the world the Sun was riding high and golden now in a serene country with floors of dazzling foam,

6. …Already the fire in the sky was burning out, and the smouldering hills were fading, while ash-grey evening crept over the fields.

7. Thin-clad birches, swaying in a light wind above their heads, made a black net against the pale sky.

8. [There seemed to be] a gleam of a beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-earth.

9. He felt that an endless river of swelling gold and silver was flowing over him, too multitudinous for its pattern to be comprehended; it became part of the throbbing air about him, and it drenched and drowned him.

10. Even as they looked he was gone: a flash of silver in the sunset, a wind over the grass, a shadow that fled and passed from sight.

11. He was in a wide vaulted chamber, draped as it were with the great shadows that the little lantern threw upon its shrouded walls.

12. “He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.”


Answers
Oh, come on! Try them all!

1. “what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret”- Book VI, Chapter 5.
1. Gandalf explaining his and Aragorn’s reluctance to tell the hobbits that Arwen is en route to marry the King.
2. Gandalf compares Aragorn’s planning a surprise wedding to a chef preparing a delicious meal. The metaphor is particularly apt because of course there will be a delicious meal at the wedding!

2. forgotten winters had gnawed and carved the sunless stone. – Book IV, Chapter 8.
1. The landscape of the Pass of Cirith Ungol.
2. The winters are compared to both animals and humans, in the different ways that they sculpt forms: with teeth and with chisel.

3. all weariness was washed from his limbs. – Book II, Chapter 6.
1. Frodo wading across the Nimrodel in Lothlorien.
2. The metaphor extends the obvious fact that the water washes away the stain of travel, i.e. dirt from the road, to the more magical effect of ‘washing away’ fatigue and tiredness.

4. a great field of dark corn, tossed by a tempest of war, and every ear glinted with barbed light. – Book III, Chapter 7.
1. Saruman’s siege army, seen by the Men of Rohan on the wall.
2. The massed army is imagined as a wheatfield, or field of dark corn, with its men in ordered rows like the planted furrows. Their excitement at being in battle causes waves of movement as a windstorm does in a field, thus the tempest of war; and every soldier is an ear of wheat, whose sharp grains at the top of the plant are the soldier’s sharp, or barbed, spear and helmet. The metal arms glint, or catch the light of the lightning flashes.

5. riding high and golden now in a serene country with floors of dazzling foam, - Book IV, Chapter 2.
1. From the Dead Marshes, the sun is seen to be above the mists and fogs.
2. The sun is riding a horse across a peaceful, serene, countryside, whose landscape is the tops of the fog-bank that the hobbits and marshes are beneath. The flat, or floor-like surface resembles white foam, which reflects the bright light in a dazzling way. The use of golden for the rider recalls the constant equation of the sun with golden light in the book, not to mention a hint of the Greek god Apollo with his chariot. The entire image contrasts strongly with the darkened and evil miasma of the Marshes below, partly caused by the very fog that is so beautiful from above.

6. the fire in the sky was burning out, … smouldering hillsash-grey evening. – Book V, Chapter 8.
1. Description of sunset as Gandalf leaves the Houses of Healing to find Aragorn.
2. The fire in the sky is the red sunset, which fades, burning out, as evening progresses. The metaphor is extended to the hills the sunset had illuminated with red light, but which now are only smouldering as the fire dies down; and the evening sky is ash-grey to suggest the ashes that are left when the fire is completely out.

7. made a black net against the pale sky. – Book I, Chapter 3.
1. The Shire at night as Frodo sets off.
2. The branches are silhouetted in black against the lighter sky, and seem to criss-cross in a single plane rather than in the depth that several trees occupy. The effect is that the branch pattern is flattened into a woven net. The net of trees that holds the Elves to the surface of the mortal Earth is a strong trope in The Silmarillion, and this scene comes immediately before the hobbits meet Elves in these woods.

8. mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-earth. – Book VI, Chapter 9.
1. Describing the summer of 1420 in the Shire.
2. The beauty of the Elven summer of 1420 is said to be superior to the mortal quality of a normal hobbit summer, which like all mortals dies at the end of its time. Flicker evokes the living flame of life, and pass refers to death when the flame goes out.

9. an endless river of swelling gold and silver was flowing over himit drenched and drowned him. – Book II, Chapter 1.
1. Frodo listening to Elven song in Rivendell.
2. The Elven song has become a liquid river, not of water but of the key metals of Elvish myth, golden sunlight and silver moonlight. Frodo is immersed and then drowned in the liquid, suggesting that he cannot survive when exposed to an art form that was never meant for mortal ears.

10. a flash of silver in the sunset, a wind over the grass, a shadow that fled and passed from sight. – Book III, Chapter 7.
1. Gandalf leaving Theoden, racing away on Shadowfax to go coordinate with the Ents and to find Erkenbrand.
2. Each metaphor conveys speed, invisibility, intangibility, and disappearance. The use of three metaphors in apposition suggests that none of them is sufficient to describe just how fast Shadowfax is.

11. draped as it were with the great shadows that the little lantern threw upon its shrouded walls. – Book V, Chapter 4.
1. Pippin in the funerary House of the Stewards in Rath Dinen, as Denethor prepares to burn.
2. Drapes and shrouded are the furnishings of a funeral and of mourning. But the hall only has these features because the lamp that lights the space also shadows it. The arrival of the funeral party has decorated the tomb for the funeral.

12. “its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.” – Book I, Chapter 3.
1. Frodo recounting Bilbo’s advice about going out the door.
2. Starting with a simile, that every Road is “like a great river”, Bilbo switches to the more direct metaphors to imagine water springing from every front door and all the Shire’s footpaths acting as watery tributary creeks running down to the great river that is, for instance, the East Road.





squire online:
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InTheChair
Rohan

Sep 22 2020, 10:01pm

Post #2 of 11 (1863 views)
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From context and memory I could place only one [In reply to] Can't Post

Number 3 which I remembered.

I also know who 12 was about though I wasn't sure about the speaker.

The others have not made imprint on me. Perhaps metaphors doesn't do that for me.


dernwyn
Forum Admin / Moderator


Sep 23 2020, 1:05am

Post #3 of 11 (1857 views)
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Tolkien knew how to use these well. [In reply to] Can't Post

Trying this closed-book!

1. “Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder.”
"The Steward and the King". Gandalf to others in the Fellowship, not-answering their question about what Aragorn is waiting for. He's ramping up the anticipation of something really good by his little hints that this is something that's been a long, long time coming. Maybe this chapter should have been titled "All's Well as Ends Better"?

2. [There] were great crevices and fissures blacker than the night, where forgotten winters had gnawed and carved the sunless stone.
The attempted crossing of Caradhras? I can't quite place this anthropomorphism of that cold season. It chills one to just read it.

3. …as he went on and it mounted to his knees, he felt that the stain of travel and all weariness was washed from his limbs.
"Lorien", Frodo crossing Nimrodel, the river cleansing his physical and emotional wounds.

4. [They] looked out, as it seemed to them, upon a great field of dark corn, tossed by a tempest of war, and every ear glinted with barbed light.
"Helm's Deep", Aragorn and the others looking out from the battlements on the massed and spear-armed orcs below. A field not of sustenance, but of death.

5. Far above the rot and vapours of the world the Sun was riding high and golden now in a serene country with floors of dazzling foam.
My guess is this is while Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are crossing the Dead Marshes, the contrast of the untouched sky above them with the ruinous land they are traversing.

6. …Already the fire in the sky was burning out, and the smouldering hills were fading, while ash-grey evening crept over the fields.
This is Rohan or Gondor, but I can't place it. What a depressing sunset - burning, smouldering, turning to ash!

7. Thin-clad birches, swaying in a light wind above their heads, made a black net against the pale sky.
Merry and Pippin in Fangorn, maybe? The trees are weaving themselves into a protective cover.

8. [There seemed to be] a gleam of a beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-earth.
Back in the Shire, the summer after the Downfall. This feels like the way the Elves see the seasons, as time continues relentlessly.

9. He felt that an endless river of swelling gold and silver was flowing over him, too multitudinous for its pattern to be comprehended; it became part of the throbbing air about him, and it drenched and drowned him.
Is this Frodo drowsing in the Great Hall of Fire in Rivendell, as he "feels" the music of the Elves, and becomes immersed in it?

10. Even as they looked he was gone: a flash of silver in the sunset, a wind over the grass, a shadow that fled and passed from sight.
Gandalf en route to Gondor, Pippin with him. I wonder if anyone has tried to measure Shadowfax's speed?

11. He was in a wide vaulted chamber, draped as it were with the great shadows that the little lantern threw upon its shrouded walls.
The Paths of the Dead, Aragorn entering the main area. The imagery is that of a tomb: chamber, shadows, shrouded.

12. “He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.”
Frodo speaking to...whom?...about Bilbo's description of the pathways that tie together all the places in Middle-earth.

Now, to check the answers and see if any are correct! This was a great mental-stretching, squire, thank you!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I desired dragons with a profound desire"


Lissuin
Valinor


Sep 23 2020, 10:23am

Post #4 of 11 (1849 views)
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That was fun and thought-provoking, squire, thanks! [In reply to] Can't Post

I managed 15-ish points for Part 1. Since I didn't come up with a game for the day, I hope you won't mind my hanging on to your coat tails here. For your Part 2, I've gone through my photos to accompany your metaphors for some of them. It is, perhaps, a bit too literal, but you know me, I do like pictures.












(This post was edited by Lissuin on Sep 23 2020, 10:25am)


Lissuin
Valinor


Sep 23 2020, 10:23am

Post #5 of 11 (1846 views)
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A few more photos and I'm done. ;-) Good night,all! [In reply to] Can't Post

 




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cats16
Half-elven


Sep 24 2020, 6:54am

Post #6 of 11 (1829 views)
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Let's see... [In reply to] Can't Post

I usually do horribly at these, so fingers crossed I break the habit.

1. I want to say Gandalf since its tone verges on lecturing; yet I cannot place it. Not FOTR, though. Later in the tale.
2. The mind jumps to FOTR in the Mines of Moria, but I'll assume that's not correct. In which case, I'm not sure! Two Towers, Shelob's Lair?
3. Sounds like FOTR...somewhere in Lothlorien? Second guess is Tom Bombadil's house.
4. Hmm, this is a good one. Somewhere in Rohan but I cannot place it.
5. ROTK, Mount Doom?
6. Two Towers, Journey to the Cross-Roads?
7. Long shot, but FOTR, Three is Company?
8. ROTK but no idea where.
9. This is wrong, but FOTR, The Mirror of Galadriel.
10. Also wrong. ROTK, Minas Tirith?
11. ROTK...Pyre of Denethor?
12. FOTR, not sure if Three is Company or A Shortcut to Mushrooms

Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!




Hamfast Gamgee
Tol Eressea

Sep 24 2020, 8:37am

Post #7 of 11 (1820 views)
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I'm finding it tough to do all of these by memory [In reply to] Can't Post

Are we allowed to look in the books?


squire
Half-elven


Sep 24 2020, 11:05am

Post #8 of 11 (1817 views)
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You can look in the books, of course [In reply to] Can't Post

Have fun!



squire online:
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Archive: All the TORn Reading Room Book Discussions (including the 1st BotR Discussion!) and Footerama: "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
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grammaboodawg
Immortal


Sep 27 2020, 1:26pm

Post #9 of 11 (1783 views)
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I'll be back! [In reply to] Can't Post

I'm working on my responses... but RL keeps rearing its demanding head! This is a fabulous game/challenge :D THANK YOU!




sample

We have been there and back again.



“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength." – Theodore Roosevelt

TIME Google Calendar


grammaboodawg
Immortal


Oct 9 2020, 3:16pm

Post #10 of 11 (1492 views)
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Finally! Humble responses right here! [In reply to] Can't Post

squire.... this was a torture and a delight! *applause*

Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to give it all the attention it deserved. Whether or not I captured the intent, I really enjoyed the journey :D THANK YOU!!!!


1. “Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder.”
...***[RotK] While in Minas Tirith after the War, the hobbits want to know why Aragorn wants them to wait to return home.
...The waiting hobbits are the table, and Aragorn's plans are the feast. He knows the surprise will make them happy, and so the secret plans are protected all the more.

2. [There] were great crevices and fissures blacker than the night, where forgotten winters had gnawed and carved the sunless stone.
...***[TT] What a great reference to time and how harsh winter weather chews up the bones of earth. Violent lands, fersher! Tolkien always gives such visceral imagery of the lands (dead marshes, fields of Rohan, putrid decay of the Morannon, the gentle Shire)

3. …as he went on and it mounted to his knees, he felt that the stain of travel and all weariness was washed from his limbs.
...***[FotR] After escaping Moria and making for Lorien, the Company crossed the River Nimrodel. It had a reputation of healing, so Frodo was enjoying relief thanks to the River. Weariness was like dirt or filth capable of being washed away.

4. [They] looked out, as it seemed to them, upon a great field of dark corn, tossed by a tempest of war, and every ear glinted with barbed light.
...***[TT] At Helms Deep, they watched as Saruman's army approached in the night. As they're overwhelmed by the endless onslaught before them, they try to fit it into what they know in an effort to handle it. The dark army becomes a field with the individuals' helms/weapons ears of corn.
...In RL, most stalks of corn only yield one corn cob; but later-maturing breeds or corn grown in perfect soil/conditions can yield two. So if the army looks like a corn field, one cob/helm/weapon would be well represented. BUT, if the field was late-in-season maturing and in perfect conditions... that would be very bad for our heroes.

5. Far above the rot and vapours of the world the Sun was riding high and golden now in a serene country with floors of dazzling foam,
...***[TT] Almost as a form of defiance of the Dead Marshes, the Sun has become a life character moving through a country untouched by the rot below. The death-like haze of the lands becoming the floor of the golden world.

6. …Already the fire in the sky was burning out, and the smouldering hills were fading, while ash-grey evening crept over the fields.
...***[RotK] After the Battle on the Pelennor Fields. What a great metaphor for aftermath. As things slowly returned to normal, the specter of the battle was still sweeping over the land.

7. Thin-clad birches, swaying in a light wind above their heads, made a black net against the pale sky.
...***[FotR] What a great vision! I've always thought trees bare of leaves are just as beautiful and the full heads of summer. If you look up while under these trees, it would be very much like a net... or a web ;) On a sunny day, you'd see the same thing in silhouette on the ground. So you'd definitely be caught in a net or a web! How much more threatening will that be for them in a few more days?

8. [There seemed to be] a gleam of a beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-earth.
...***[RotK] After winters, summers are always a wonderful relief; but this summer after the Shire and the hobbits own form of desolation from war, Sam's gift from Galadriel created this most blessed season. The typical (mortal) summers, in comparison, were short and diminished (flicker and pass) compared to Lórien's touch.

9. He felt that an endless river of swelling gold and silver was flowing over him, too multitudinous for its pattern to be comprehended; it became part of the throbbing air about him, and it drenched and drowned him.
...***[FotR] Talk about being swept away! I've wondered about the effect and wealth (gold and silver) of the enchanted music/voices and how they washed over him (flowing, drenched, drowned) and the blessed dream it brought. Did the Ring, injury/poison/breath/loss/sting/Eye create the same feeling of being washed over and drowned this time in darkness and pain? Hopefully he was rejuvenated and armed for what was to come from the power of the Elves' music. Good thing he got booster shots in Nimrodel and Lothlorien ;)

10. Even as they looked he was gone: a flash of silver in the sunset, a wind over the grass, a shadow that fled and passed from sight.
...***[TT] As Gandalf and the Hobbits are returning home, Gandalf peels off and heads for Tom Bombadil's for a visit. Isn't this metaphor/vision the epitome of Gandalf? He would sweep into situations, shape/influence/manipulate events to achieve victory and healing, and then vanish again into the West (flash of silver in the sunset).

11. He was in a wide vaulted chamber, draped as it were with the great shadows that the little lantern threw upon its shrouded walls.
...***[RotK] Why does this make me think of Balrogs? ;) The draping shadows in this long chamber must have seemed like walking through Moria again where the glow of Gandalf's staff was their own source of light.

12. “He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.”
While Frodo and Sam were leaving Hobbiton, Frodo was telling Sam about Bilbo's philosophy.
...***[FotR] I've always loved this metaphor and think of it whenever I have gone on an adventure. Also every time I moved over the past 50 years. Twenty-two of the 23 moves were in the first 20 years. I like the idea of my own front door being the alpha and omega of an endless ocean!




sample

We have been there and back again.



“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength." – Theodore Roosevelt

TIME Google Calendar


squire
Half-elven


Oct 9 2020, 5:40pm

Post #11 of 11 (1479 views)
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Wow, that's some sticktoitiveness! [In reply to] Can't Post

I loved your interpretations and explanations, and of course you got almost all the text locations right. Thanks for this compliment, gramma, and see you at the next party!



squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Archive: All the TORn Reading Room Book Discussions (including the 1st BotR Discussion!) and Footerama: "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
Dr. Squire introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary


= Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.

 
 

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