He saw that the riders away eastward were already level with the Orcs,
galloping over the plain. The sunset gilded their spears and helmets and
glinted from their pale flowing hair.
Sad to remember, sick with years,
The swift innumerable spears,
The horsemen with their floating hair...W.B. Yeats
So, I'm in a museum sort of randomly browsing an exhibition when, suddenly, I
find myself face-to-face with Éomer's spear. Well, Éomer's spear
from the movie anyway. A beautifully shaped spearhead with two crescent
piercings. And surprise, it's not Anglo-Saxon ; it's a Bronze Age piece (ca.
900-1200 B.C.) found in the vicinity of the Thames. The picture below is
of a similar spearhead. I have no idea if the design is unique to
the Bronze Age: but, I'm sure someone here does, and will be willing to tell us
about it :-)
(Click on the picture to go to the originating page for more information.)
Suddenly spearheads seemed much more interesting :-) They're
underrated -- everyone is always getting excited about swords. But the
spear was much more common. And really, they can be very beautiful
objects. A little gallery: Click on the picture to see a larger one or go
to the original page.
I don't know if Tolkien had any particular kind of spear in mind or if any
particular museum object ever influenced him. Still, somehow it's
funny/weird/ironic that a 20th century novel and 21st century movie provoke a
shock of recognition at the sight of these ancient artifacts. I
missed quite a bit of the discussion at the end of last week so you may have
talked about spears until your ears fell off. If so, I'm sorry to
duplicate the material. (My computer only likes to go back so far,
sorry!) But if not, I would love to hear your thoughts on the spears of
the Rohirrim . (Hmm, if I was clever I could probably make up some kind
of poem with those two sentences.)
And as a complete aside take a look at Goldberry's barrow brooch: "He choose
for himself from the pile a brooch set with blue stones, many shaded like flax
flowers or the wings of blue butterflies." Fog on the Barrow-Downs
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Scholarship is the enemy of romance.
Billy Bragg
