and light upon her banners laid

[Jim Deutch]

There was some question/confusion about this line of the Eärendil poem: "and light upon her banners laid". Did he hang a lantern above the banners to light them up? Were they made of something *shiny*? (cue "Black Crow" by Joni Mitchell) Could it have been the light of the Silmaril? No, that couldn't be: the Silmaril comes later in the poem. This is when the ship is first built... No conclusion was reached.

Ever since I first read The Lord of the Rings, almost fifty years ago, I've had a different reading of this line. Instead of taking "light" as the subject, I always read it as a poetically-truncated adverb. So the meaning of the line is "and lightly laid banners upon her". Banners are light in weight, aren't they? And laying them on her nice and lightly shows respect. No burdensome heavy cloth-of-gold banners for this ship--uh, wait a minute: sails made of silver?? Those don't sound so lightweight...maybe that's why there was no room left for banners unless they were nice and light.

This may be a mis-reading of the line, but at least it's a clear reading. <g>

Or maybe the problem is not with "light", but with "banners".

The word [banner] derives from the French word "bannière" and late Latin bandum, a cloth out of which a flag is made ... The German language developed the word to mean an official edict or proclamation and since such written orders often prohibited some form of human activity, bandum assumed the meaning of a ban, control, interdict or excommunication. Banns has the same origin meaning an official proclamation

Could the word "banners" be meant instead to connote the charge laid upon Eärendil, and by extension Vingilot? I'm even more skeptical of this reading, but it's interesting anyway.

 

[Saxo Runesinger]

I concur and read it the same way...'light' as in 'weighless'

 

[Anthony Lawther]

There was some question/confusion about this line of the Eärendil poem: "and light upon her banners laid". Did he hang a lantern above the banners to light them up? Were they made of something *shiny*? (cue "Black Crow" by Joni Mitchell) Could it have been the light of the Silmaril? No, that couldn't be: the Silmaril comes later in the poem. This is when the ship is first built... No conclusion was reached.

Ever since I first read The Lord of the Rings, almost fifty years ago, I've had a different reading of this line. Instead of taking "light" as the subject, I always read it as a poetically-truncated adverb. So the meaning of the line is "and lightly laid banners upon her". Banners are light in weight, aren't they? And laying them on her nice and lightly shows respect. No burdensome heavy cloth-of-gold banners for this ship--uh, wait a minute: sails made of silver?? Those don't sound so lightweight...maybe that's why there was no room left for banners unless they were nice and light.

This may be a mis-reading of the line, but at least it's a clear reading. <g>

I too read it as low-weight. This section of the poem is about the physical description of the ship, but I think it still fits.

Regarding "sails he wove of silver fair", while it is possible to make things of woven silver, silk is also sometimes described as silvery.
Parachutes made of silver show the strength with low-weight and small size achievable with silk, and silver fits the meter better than silk; "of silken fair" is awkward, and "of silken hair" is maybe a bit creepy. I can't think of another phrase that would fit here to carry the same meaning, but I'm not the poet that Tolkien was.

I like the reading of poetic truncation, which combined with some poetic omission could be "and light(ly) upon her banners (were) laid."
This continues the passive voice of the previous two lines rather than implying a return to the active voice; a small difference.

Or maybe the problem is not with "light", but with "banners".

Could the word "banners" be meant instead to connote the charge laid upon Eärendil, and by extension Vingilot? I'm even more skeptical of this reading, but it's interesting anyway.

This is a charge he essentially laid upon himself, being a prince of many houses and there not really being any other suitable candidates, so this reading could more so relate to the charge he laid upon his ship to carry him, but it does seem somewhat tenuous.