I like Zurai's take on it, though I must admit, despite the Battle of the Pelennor Fields being one of my favorite scenes in LotR (I still get chills both from the passage Zurai quotes, and the part where Eomer laughs "Because he was yet unscathed, and he was young and he was king"), It wasn't the first literary soliloquy that came to mind. The first thing *I* think of when I think of Inspire Courage is:
[quote = Shakespeare]Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'
Hmmm.... Shakespeare, a bard? Nahh....
Another modern popular example would be the ancestor chant in The 13th Warrior.
The thing to remember when thinking about the bardic music abilities is to not only get into the head of the bsrd himself, but of the entire cultural mindset behind the existence of the class. Even though the setting(s) aren't usually truly medieval, they are to a great extent inspired by the medieval and renaissance periods, and in particular, the renaissance's portrayal of the medieval. We're talking about cultures where only the most educated classes read and wrote, where entertainment was very much a collective experience -- storytelling, plays, the chanted epics, eddas etc. People got as much out of a storyteller by the campfire as we get out of going to catch the latest blockbuster, or reading LotR, maybe even more. It inspired them, it shaped their world view and informed their ethics. That's why, beyond the practical gaming mechanics, I always prefer vocal performances for my bards in combat, with a few minor flavor-inspired exceptions *chough cough bagpipes cough cough*. I see the Bard as moving around the battlefield, chanting out the histories of great warrios and epic battles, encouraging her companions to fight valiantly, comparing them to Leonidas or Roland or Eomer...
Just my take on it.
