I was reading *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers* and I came across a sentence in which I don't fully understand its grammar. 

> 
> ..., and when they rose taller they seemed than mortal men.
> 
> 
> 

I think I understand the meaning, but written in the grammar that I'm used to the sentence would be something like:

> 
> ..., and when they rose, they seemed **taller** than mortal men.
> 
> 
> 

I checked [here](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/comparatives-and-superlatives/comparison-adjectives-bigger-biggest-more-interesting) to see if I could find some kind of exception or explanation to this, but I couldn't find anything similar.

Maybe this is not common but...

* is it allowed?
* my copy of the book got this wrong?
* is it an *old* way of writing?
* did the author take a poetic license?