Jim Deutch
Well-Known Member
I think Professor Olsen was too dismissive of the piper. (and I word that very carefully)
It is true that in an earlier version of the poem there was a piper; he is even named. But in this version, Tinúviel dances, and there is music. Tinúviel dances, and that is music.
His attitude seems to be summed up by "who cares about the piper dude?" but he never questioned the piper's actual existence. I do not believe there is a piper at all. The piping is more like a sound in your head than a sound in your ears; it is part of the enchantment of Tinúviel's dance.LotR poem of Tinúviel said:Tinúviel was dancing there / To music of a pipe unseen,
Just as you wouldn't think that Beren suddenly has super-power hearing to be able to hear footsteps -- distant footsteps! -- and just as you wouldn't think that there's suddenly an orchestra assembled in a cave somewhere below, you don't have to think there is any piper either. They're all just part of the enchantment.LotR poem of Tinúviel said:He heard there oft the flying sound / Of feet as light as linden-leaves, / Or music welling undergound, / In hidden hollows quavering.
It is true that in an earlier version of the poem there was a piper; he is even named. But in this version, Tinúviel dances, and there is music. Tinúviel dances, and that is music.