Episode 51 Summary

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 51

Comment on the conflict between and Bilbo and Gandalf, redux:
  • Could Bilbo have claimed the Ring and overcome Gandalf using its power?
  • Bilbo did fully claim the Ring, which is the premise of the conflict with Gandalf.
  • Gandalf is worried, but worried about Bilbo’s well-being, not his own safety.
  • Bilbo could never have used the power of the Ring to dominate Gandalf’s will, because, like Frodo is told later by Galadriel, he has not tried and does not know how.
  • Bilbo had only used it for invisibility and was not aware of its true nature or powers.
  • The power of the Ring is limited based on the natural power of the person bearing it.
  • Note: The film adaptation states that the Ring cannot be used by anyone other than Sauron, and when people want to claim its power for their own, they are simply delusional. In the book, the Ring can be used by everyone, but their power to master it is limited to their own native power. Many people, like Gandalf and Galadriel, could have claimed the Ring and overthrown Sauron, but at their own cost. Boromir probably couldn’t have mastered it; Faramir and Denethor could.
  • The right to wield an artifact matters, according to Aragorn, such as the Palantir. Saruman fails more spectacularly than Denethor, despite his greater power, because Denethor has the right.
Comment on Frodo’s supposed Underhill cousins:
  • Upon finding that they are related, this is the only thin excuse the Underhills need to show Frodo great welcome and kinship. This says something about the Bree vs Shire hobbit culture.
  • In the Shire, this might not have happened, as the norm is to see hobbits from even nearby towns as strangers and queer folk. It may be that family would be the exception.
  • Bilbo’s invitation of many relatives from far away from Hobbiton was seen as odd.
  • Sam does seem to trust the word of his cousin who lives far away in the North-farthing, though.
  • The family exception may be limited to known people only within the Shire.
  • Bree’s parochialism is tempered by their multi-people population and location at a crossroads.
Seeing the layers of authorship:
  • The statement about the memory of the words of the song is a clear intrusion of the modern narrator, which has been largely absent since The Hobbit and the earlier chapters.
  • Note: The voice of the narrator’s disappearance is often overstated, as we do see it return.
  • We are reminded more as the novel proceeds that there are multiple layers of authorship and narration, including the 20th century editor/translator/narrator.
  • The tone of the introduction of the poem harkens back to the light, funny tone of the first chapter, which is very hobbitish and speaking with a dry humor.
  • A simplified version of the layers might be rendered as the original action, the hobbit recorders, and the editors and translators who come later.
  • For instance, the history of Bree would fall under the second layers, i.e. the hobbit writers.
  • Note: This is like what modern scholars do when examining primary sources and documents.
An irregular song about an inn:
  • The song is sung in stanzas, which are in a regular five-line structure that varies little.
  • The meter is basically an iambic tetrameter, though lines two and three only have three feet.
  • Often, Tolkien uses alternating lines of four and three to create pairs of seven, but not in this case. Here, he breaks that pattern with an extra line of four in-between.
  • The third line rhymes with line four, which makes it sounds like an internal rhyme.
  • The first line of each stanza has no rhyme, which makes it sound more like a half-line.
  • The stanzas have a general pattern of starting with big concepts, and then focusing down.
  • There is a stronger enjambment between lines four and five as though it was all one line, though lines three, four, and five are all one sentence.
  • Note: The idea of Sunday being a special day is an artifact of the original poem’s translation.
A fantastical inn:
  • Note: It’s important to remember that the Silmarillion concepts of Tilion (the man in the moon) and Arien (the face of the sun) are only superficially referenced here.
  • The genre of the poem is one of a folk legend which contains many wondrous elements.
  • Even though the inn seems normal, the denizens of the inn itself are fantastical. The theme of all the fantastical elements are of jollity and fun. This is the epitome of a fun, Faerie pub.
  • Note: All the inns are known for brewing their own beer, and this inn is no exception.
  • The level of fantastical fun is such that the cat plays the fiddle and the Man in the Moon likes their beer. All the fantasy is clearly within the genre of inns only.
  • The proud cow is unusual, but her drunkenness at the music is a form of enchantment.
  • Having established this amazing inn, the scene is now set for its most extraordinary night.
  • On this exceptional night, even the flatware is enchanted by the music.
  • The poet is playing on normal dog and cat behavior but taking that to a marvelous extreme.
  • Even the potency of the beer is at its most extreme on this one extraordinary night.
Singing the song in the inn:
  • The line “The white horses of the Moon” is the biggest variation from the iambic rhythm, which seems to be deliberately jarring, as the ostler has to bring everyone back to their senses.
  • The only time the first line has an internal rhyme is on the “hey-diddle-diddle” line.
  • The rhythm of the first lines employ anapests to create a triple feel, especially on this line.
  • Returning to iambic meter with “wake the dead” stops the line on a big moment.
  • Note: “Hey-diddle-diddle” is the first line of the original nursery rhyme, which seems like a nonsense rhyme. Tolkien poses this as the true story behind the nonsense rhyme.
  • The rhythm of lines three and four of this stanza give the impression of playing the fiddle.
On the Man in the Moon:
  • The Man in the Moon is not the moon itself; he is the pilot of the moon.
  • Note: We meet him in two other contexts in Tolkien. One is “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon”, a companion poem. The other is as a character in “Roverandom”.
  • The Man in the Moon is a comical character in the former; he is a wizard in the latter.
  • There is a man in the moon in the Silmarillion mythology, who is the Maia Tilion. This allows the hobbits to sing songs about The Man in the Moon without internal inconsistency.
  • This presence shows a vague memory of the elvish traditions of Tilion and Arien.
  • This retroactive construction allows the reader to explain the appearance of the Man in the Moon, but we must remember that Tilion is very different from this depiction.
  • One difference is that this version of the moon is a carriage, not a chariot. This is reminiscent of the important hobbits being bundled into carriages to be taken home after the Party.
  • The rolling of the Man up the hill implies both that the Moon was landed on a hill like Santa Claus, and that the Man is fat and able to be rolled.
  • There is a sense that the characters in the song are all hobbits. This is a hobbit song, and this would also explain why they were unable to carry the Man back to the carriage.
Back to the original nursery rhyme:
  • The carriage horses are serious, while the inn’s animals are whimsical as a contrast.
  • The first line of the “deedle-dum-diddle” stanza implies the energy of the music, which is shown in the spontaneous dancing among the animals and previously sleeping guests.
  • The breaking of the strings shows that the stanza which contains the majority of the original nursery rhyme is the end of the story, not the beginning.
  • The “ping and a pong” is an onomatopoetic depiction of the breaking of the strings.
  • Is the Man in the Moon inspiring “lunacy” among the guests? Perhaps ironically.
  • The dish and the spoon would be a scandalous elopement of a cross-class marriage.
  • Note: The nonsense of the original nursery rhyme is in the random assortment of known words, rather than using nonsense words themselves.
  • The setting of the moon is being shown as simply being out of sight.
  • The capitalization of the Sun and Moon is a nod to the Silmarillion mythology, as well as the male and female genders for the Moon and Sun, respectively; likewise, Arien’s “fiery eyes”.
  • Note: Many mythologies have a male sun and female moon, but this is not always the case.
  • Note: In the original version of this poem, there was no gender assigned to the Sun, and it ordered everyone back to bed, which is different in content and tone from the final version.
END OF SESSION
 

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