Hi Anthony,
You seem to think I am arguing with you. I am not.
I agree that Tolkien most often uses 'cast down' as a metaphor for 'thrown down'.
I don't think I am being 'obtuse and resistant', but rather 'illuminating and exploratory'.
When an author uses poetic and metaphoric language, instead of straightforward description, we should wonder why.
- It could be that the author is just thoughtlessly falling back on old clichés? Possible, but unlikely for Tolkien.
- It could be that the author is trying to create a 'higher', more 'ancient' more 'epic' prose style? Very common for Tolkien.
- It could be that the author is trying to layer levels of meaning into the sentence in a way that would not be easy with straightforward description? That is what I am trying to explore.
Here is a non-Tolkien example:
"The church bells of Europe were cast down to make cannon for the War."
A straightforward factual description would read:
"Many church bells in Europe were taken down and melted to be cast into cannon for the war."
In this case, the poetic language layers many meanings into the sentence. The bells were not literally 'thrown' down from their bell towers, but the author is using this common cliche to indicate that though the bells were not violently hurled down physically, their removal was violent spiritually. The bells were melted down physically, not 'cast down', but here the sense of 'cast down' can be used in a novel way to mean 'un-made'. It has a slightly different sense than 'melted', as found substances such as iron ore, or sand can be melted down to make iron or glass, whereas 'cast down' might only apply to the unmaking of things that were previously crafted. 'Cast down' is also a play on one of the common definitions of 'cast' as to shape an object by pouring it into a mold in its molten state, which is what is going to happen to the substance of the bells when they are turned into cannon.
In the example sentence, the use of the phrase 'cast down' can imply that this action was a spiritual catastrophe in a way that the straight description does not. It can also question whether the unmaking of works of sub-creation is a good idea? Particularly when they are un-made to be re-purposed into works of more morally dubious intent.
It is particularly useful to explore the meanings of the word 'cast' when reading TLOTR. After the Council of Elrond the entire thrust of the story is to 'cast down' the Ring into the fires of Mt. Doom.
Of course, this means 'throw the Ring in the Fire!' But it also has other meanings. Chief among them is 'Melt down the Ring! Un-make it!" When the Ring is un-made, Sauron is un-made, and Barad-Dur is unmade.
This raises one of the interesting questions in TLOTR: What should we think about the 'un-making' of great sub-creations?
The Ring must rank as one of the most impressive sub-creations ever achieved in Arda after it's formation. The Trees, the Silmaril, the Sun and the Moon, the Ring (rings), the Palantir: what else counts if we focus after the formation of the whole world by the Valar?
Who has ever set out to deliberately destroy a great sub-creation hitherto? Only Melkor and Ungoliant, when they destroyed the Trees?
Yet now, the Council proposes to un-make a great sub-creation. Yes it is evil, but also 'beautiful' and 'precious'.
It is no wonder, that when TLOTR was published, many people thought that the Ring was an allegorical reference to the Atomic Bomb. Of all the great and terrible sub-creations of Man, that is the one that many people most wish could be un-made. (Of course, this interpretation was famously rejected by Tolkien).
So, Tolkien likes the word 'cast'. He uses it a lot. No wonder! It is a perfect word for the central theme of the story, which is to un-make the Ring by throwing it into the Fires of Doom. It is the perfect word, because it has more meanings than 'throw'. Although Tolkien uses it often just as a 'throw' metaphor, this is not by any means the only way Tolkien uses the word, and it is interesting whenever he uses it to see what other definitions might be implied.