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The Ballad of the White Horse
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Poem Analysis
Analysis: “The Ballad of the White Horse”
Dedication
The Dedication introduces Christianity as the most significant theme in the ballad. Chesterton works his way up to this by posing several questions. He asks why anyone should write about events from the distant past. Those days will never return, and the popular tales about Alfred that have come down to the present might seem more like fairy tales than actual history. He wonders who will be able to capture Alfred and the age he lived in, since “His century like a small dark cloud / Drifts far” (Lines 43-44). Nevertheless, there is a lens through which Alfred can be seen, and that lens is a Christian one: “By one light only / We look from Alfred’s eyes” (Lines 47-48). According to Chesterton, the fact that Alfred fought for Christian civilization is the most important thing about him.
This leads Chesterton to his tribute to his wife, Frances, “Who brought the cross to [him]” (Line 54). He then remembers an occasion when he and Frances visited the battle-site of Ethandune. Writing in the first person, he says he will go with her, and with God, into “the fiery cross of love and war / That like yourself, goes on” (Lines 69-70). He thus presents his wife as a kind of muse who inspires and guides him: “[W]here you are / Shall honour and laughter be” (Lines 71-72).
Book I: The Vision of the King
Book I presents the crucial experience that inspires the defeated Alfred, who is in hiding on the river island of Athelnay, in the Somerset marshes, to once more take up arms against the invading Danes.
The narrator begins with a description of a significant artefact from pre-history that gives the ballad its title. This is the White Horse, which in ancient times was carved out of the turf on a hillside in England. The grass was cleared away and replaced with crushed, white chalk shaped into the figure of a horse. The engraving still exists today near the top of White Horse Hill, near Uffiington, in Oxfordshire. It is thought to have been created during the Bronze Age, sometime between 1380 and 550 BCE. Chesterton writes in a Prefatory Note: “[T]radition connects the ultimate victory of Alfred with the valley in Berkshire called the Vale of the White Horse” (xix). The vale was historically part of Berkshire and lies to the north of White Horse Hill, which overlooks it. In the ballad, the white horse becomes a symbol for the continuity of human civilization over a vast span of time, from pre-history to pagan and then Christian times. It represents tradition and culture, beginning before England even existed, and Alfred will later insist that the white horse be maintained and not get covered over by weeds and grass.
Chesterton follows this with a brief sketch of Western civilization following the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE. This momentous event ushered in a centuries-long period of darkness in Europe as barbarian tribes, including the Goths and the Huns, invaded the territories of the former empire from the north and the east. The narrative then moves swiftly forward to the late 9th century and the invasion of England by the Danish Vikings, thus connecting the pagan Vikings to the fall of Christian civilization in another part of Europe and putting the Christian Alfred’s resistance to them in a wider cultural context. The invading Danes, who were expert seamen, brought destruction wherever they went: “A sea-folk blinder than the sea / Broke about his [Alfred’s] land” (Lines 65-66). It was left to Alfred to stand up to them.
Alfred fought fiercely and managed to arrange a short-lived peace, but Danish aggression soon resumed. The Danes were “Christless” (Line 82); they “took the kindly cross of God / And cut it up for wood” (Lines 94-95). Their pagan gods “were sadder than the sea” (Line 100); they “cried for blood like beasts at night” (Line 102). The culture of the Danes also lagged behind that of the English. They did not know “of the arch or pen” (Line 83), that is, they did not build in stone or use writing. However, during the 870s, the English were unable to defeat them and by 878 Alfred was forced to hide in Athelney, his forces destroyed. His position seems hopeless, and he sheds “shameful tears of rage” (Line 137).
The turning point comes when Alfred remembers a time from childhood, when his mother showed him a picture of the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus. After recalling this, Alfred has a vision of Our Lady, the Virgin, and he asks her whether he will be able to drive the Danes out of England. The Virgin’s reply takes up 11 stanzas. She says it is not difficult for anyone to gain knowledge of heavenly things, but it is not permitted to know the future: “[I]f he fail or if he win / To no good man is told” (Lines 229-30). She contrasts this with the way that eastern religions attempt to foretell the future through astrological calculations. They know when fate dictates bad outcomes. Christian men, however, “Go gaily in the dark” (Line 234); they are “ignorant” (Line 251) of the future and “brave” (Line 251). Our Lady then speaks the key passage:
I tell you naught for your own comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher. (Lines 254-57)
Her final words to Alfred form a question: “Do you have joy without a cause / Yea, faith without a hope?” (Lines 260-61).
Alfred is thus instructed to proceed as a Christian soldier even though the situation he is in will only get worse. He must fight to preserve the higher vision, the transcendental cause, which is Christian civilization. He must also bring to that cause the virtues of joy and faith, of action without thinking of outcomes. He must surrender to the process on which he has embarked, no matter how discouraging it may appear, trusting in the ultimate wisdom of the divine. This is the key theme of the entire ballad.
The Virgin Mary thus reveals herself as the second inspirational female figure in the ballad (the first was Chesterton’s wife, in the Dedication). This will not be her last appearance to Alfred. She will reappear in Book VII, at the height of the battle.
Book II: The Gathering of the Chiefs
Alfred is inspired by his vision of Mary. His spirits rise and he takes immediate action, setting out to assemble an army. This Book introduces the three chieftains on Alfred’s side: Eldred, Mark, and Colan, a Saxon, a Roman, and a Celt, respectively. In his Prefatory Note, Chesterton calls these representative, fictional figures a “triple symbol,” designed to convey the notion that Alfred’s Wessex consisted of “very mixed bloods” (p. xx). What they have in common is that they are all Christians. The Anglo-Saxons had converted to Christianity in the 7th century, and Christianity flourished in Britain during the Roman Empire. The Romans ruled Britain for three and a half centuries, from 43 CE to 410 CE, and by 323 CE, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Celts in Wales, where Colan lives, had also adopted Christianity from the 4th century onward.
Each of the three men has his distinctive characteristics. Eldred the Saxon is huge, a very physically imposing man, “His body a walking hill” (Line 45) in Chesterton’s metaphor. Eldred has many battle credits to his name. He has lost many friends in war and his farm is no longer well-tended, but he loves feasting and ale. He tells Alfred that he has no interest in joining another unsuccessful military adventure and losing more of his men. He wants a peaceful life, watching “the certain things / Swine, and slow moons like silver rings / And the ripening of the plums” (Lines 60-62).
In reply, Alfred speaks of the calling he received from the Mother of God and he knows for whom he is fighting. He and his men may die in battle, “God know when / By God, but I know why” (Lines 78-79). He repeats the message of Mary that there will be no comfort, “for the sky grows darker yet / And the sea rises higher” (Lines 254-57). Alfred’s newfound courage and eloquence make an impression on Eldred, and in a dramatic moment, he rises from his chair and “Like some vast beast for mystery / He filled the room and porch and sky” (Lines 87-88). Without a word, he unhooks his sword from the nail on which it hung. Eldred is now onboard with Alfred’s fight, understood as a Christian mission. The Christian theme remains front and center.
Mark is quite different from Eldred. He traces his Roman blood back to Julius Caesar, who led a Roman force into Britain in 54 BCE. He retains the typical Roman virtues. Like Eldred he is a farmer but he is far more efficient, orderly, and self-disciplined than the Saxon: Even “His fruit trees stood like soldiers / Drilled in a straight line” (Lines 131-32). After Alfred explains his mission and repeats the words of the Virgin Mary that he told Eldred, Mark reveals his military knowledge and organizational ability: “Where would you meet?” (Line 165), he asks, “For you must hold / Half Wiltshire and the White Horse wold / and the Thames bank to Owsenfold / If Wessex goes to war” (Lines 165-68). He adds that Guthrum, the Danish king, “sits strong on either bank / And you must press his lines / Inwards, and eastward drive him down” (Lines 169-71).
Mark shows a strategic and tactical intelligence that the hard-pressed Alfred badly needs. He adds that Alfred must aim to take London if he wants to overthrow Guthrum. Still, Mark, like Eldred, says he is content to remain on his farm: “For me, I have the vines” (Line 174), meaning his vineyard. Alfred leaves without having gained a commitment from Mark, but he is confident that the Roman will come with all the men he can muster to the designated meeting place at Egbert’s Stone—and in that he will prove to be right.
Finally, Alfred seeks out Colan, who lives in a cave in a forest near the river Usk in southwest Wales. Colan is a Christian because his mother and all her family were; they were originally from Ireland, which has been Christian since the 5th century. Colan is different from the genial Eldred and the noble Mark. He does not have Eldred’s relaxed manner or Mark’s orderliness. He is more the wild man—passionate, emotional, and a man to be reckoned with when he is roused to anger. He is like the Celts generally, according to the narrator, “For all their wars are merry / And all their songs are sad” (Lines 222-23)—a reversal of what might normally be expected. Colan also still clings to some pre-Christian, pagan beliefs, which is why he has “some unreason in his heart / Because of the gods that were” (Lines 231-32). Colan does not exactly welcome Alfred, criticizing him for boasting when he is victorious and not being big enough to accept failure when he is defeated.
However, Alfred does not take the bait; he knows exactly what he wants from Colan, and he quotes the same words of the Virgin about the sky growing darker and the seas rising that he conveyed to Eldred and Mark. That seems to appeal to Colan’s imaginative, combative nature: “And if the sea and sky be foes / We will tame the sea and sky” (Lines 266-67), he says. In other words, count him in. Thus, Alfred, inspired by his vision of Mary, has done all he has to do to assemble an army to fight the Danes, in spite of the poor prospects of victory.
Book III: The Harp of Alfred
This Book introduces the Danish king Guthram and three of his earls. Harold, Elf, and Ogier are the pagan counterparts of Eldred, Mark, and Colan. As Alfred and then the Danes sing to the harp, the radical differences in how they view the world become apparent. In the Danish camp, Alfred, disguised as a minstrel, first sings of the past wars in Wessex.
Then the young man Harold takes over. He expresses a materialistic, sensual view of life, arguing that the world is for enjoyment, “The whole huge world a toy” (Line 107). There is no higher purpose. He loves war not so much for the thrill of combat or conquest, but because it allows him to accumulate more toys: He cites wine, fine clothes, marble, and gold, as well as women. He loves to indulge the senses with food that offers new aromas and tastes. Harold has only contempt for Christianity, which he calls “the god of the nails from Rome” (Line129). It has made men weak, he says, subservient to monks.
Elf follows. He is the Danes’ bard, and he sings folk songs of life’s mysteries and magic and the sadness of things. He knows how to stir the deeper feelings of the heart. Tellingly, he sings about the death of a Norse god, Balder (also Baldur). In Norse mythology, Balder is associated with beauty, wisdom, and courage. His mother dreamed of his death and tried to protect him by making all creatures and objects promise never to harm him. However, she did not bother to tell mistletoe, which she thought was harmless. Knowing this, Loki, the trickster god, fashioned an arrow from mistletoe and gave it to the blind god Hodur, who, not knowing what he was doing, shot and killed Balder.
The message Elf conveys by his allusion to Balder is that tragedy is always lurking; love is not secure, even for the gods, and human life is always vulnerable. Nothing can be done to alter this. Elf’s song thus suggests an implicit contrast between paganism and Christianity, which holds out the hope of salvation and eternal life and love as a salve for the inevitable misfortunes of life.
Next comes Ogier, and his song is the most terrifying, since it glorifies violence, destruction, and hatred as the be-all and end-all of life. The so-called good life does not interest Ogier. Women and drink ultimately harm a man, and he proposes something else entirely for the nourishment of the soul: “Well if he find in his soul at last / Fury, that does not fail” (Lines193-94). The gods themselves are wrathful, and men must express their wrath too, as long as there is “one tall shrine to shake / Or one live man to rend” (Lines 201-02). According to Ogier, hate alone endures—it is the primary motivation behind human life.
Guthrum then takes up his harp. In response to Ogier, he sings of the need to endure whatever life brings, as such an attitude is better than willful destruction. The truth he sings of, however, is that life is devoid of hope: “The soul is like a lost bird / The body is a broken shell” (Lines 259-60). When man realizes this he is downcast; he entertains hope only when he is ignorant of the truth. “[T]he great sea is bitter / That washes all the world” (Lines 272-73), says Guthrum.
Then it is Alfred’s turn again, and this time he lays out his own Christian faith and tells how it is superior to what the Danes believe. As a Christian, he may be a fallen, sinful man as a result of Adam’s sin, but that is preferable to their gods, who offer nothing but death. He responds directly to Harold, who had sneered at Christianity.
Alfred makes three basic points. First, Christians have great perseverance: They are not downhearted and still strive with all they have, even if they are to lose again. The Danes do not possess this kind of passionate commitment to their cause. Second, Christians understand the futility of indulging in the senses; their monks may sometimes fast, because that enables them to focus on inner spiritual joy.
Third, the Danes will not survive because they do not value the achievements of previous civilizations—they neglect the White Horse of the Vale, for example, and grass and weeds encroach on it. In contrast, Christians value all previous efforts to cultivate and civilize the world. The Christian God, unlike the Danish ones, declares the created world to be good, and therefore Christians are committed to taking care of it. They “guard even heathen things” (Line 372).
The contrast between the pagan philosophies of life and the Christian one is thus clearly laid out in this series of songs accompanied by the harp.
Book IV: The Woman in the Forest
The traditional tale of Alfred burning the cakes has been taught to every English schoolchild for countless generations. No one knows whether this incident really happened, and historians are skeptical, especially as the story did not appear until many years after Alfred’s death. Chesterton points out in his Prefatory Note that the ballad is a work of fiction, and he includes the legend of Alfred and the cakes because it is a “popular tale.” It also offers the poet a chance to develop Alfred’s character.
The episode is a variation of the motif of the disguised king or leader that sometimes occurs in literature, such as Homer’s Odyssey, in which Odysseus frequently disguises himself—as a beggar on his return to Ithaca, for example, in order to test the loyalty of the people. The motif of the disguised king who encounters the common people appears in Shakespeare’s Henry V, as the king wanders at night amongst his men on the eve of the battle of Agincourt. Encounters between kings and ordinary folk also featured in a number of ballads and romances from the 14th to the 16th century, including “King Edward and the Shepherd.” In Chesterton’s ballad, Alfred does not deliberately disguise himself, but the woman he encounters nonetheless takes him to be a beggar because of his ragged attire and thin appearance.
Chesterton develops the tale of Alfred and the burnt cakes by providing a reason for why it happened, which reveals the king to be a thoughtful, religious, and compassionate man. First, Alfred feels compassion for the old, poor woman. He remembers the promise in the New Testament that those who are last will someday be first. He also says that God in a sense is also a servant—like many of those who are low-born—because his work often goes unnoticed and he is forgotten. Like a servant, God arranges things so that men and women can be comfortable. He is not a king like Guthrum with a crown, but rather “a good giant / That, labouring, lifts the world” (Lines 122-23). Alfred also believes that the Danes will at some point be overthrown “And the kingdom of the poor on earth / Come, as it is in heaven” (Lines 143-44). Even so, this may be too late for the poor old woman, “Who shall go groaning to the grave” (Line 147). He weeps for her. In doing so, he forgets all about the cakes and they burn.
When the woman discovers his costly lapse, she rebukes and strikes him, leaving a red mark on his forehead. From Alfred’s point of view, this could not have come at a worse moment, for now the armies of Eldred, Mark, and Colan arrive at the hut, which is their designated meeting place, and they observe Alfred as he stands there, surprised and angry. It is obvious to everyone that the peasant woman has just struck the king.
This violent undermining of his status and authority by a commoner might have proved very damaging for Alfred’s standing with his men, but he quickly adapts to the situation and turns it to his advantage. He reveals a humble side to his nature. Instead of punishing the woman, he laughs at himself. He also learns from the experience: “For he that is struck for an ill servant / Should be a kind lord” (Lines 250-51). Humility is superior to pride. He will return the blow he received not on the giver, but to his enemies in war, including the Danes.
Alfred then gives an inspirational speech to his assembled army, which begins to advance on the enemy. Thus, Alfred survives his moment of embarrassment and is now ready for action.
Book V: Ethandune: The First Stroke
Up to this point, Guthrum and the Danes have conquered all before them, leaving destruction in their wake. Guthrum is aware of the weakness of the English army, but he nonetheless makes careful preparations. He has the major advantage of occupying the higher ground. Alfred’s army, as it emerges from the woods, must approach the Danes from a lower road. Pumped up with excitement and valor at first, Alfred’s men soon begin to lose heart as they contemplate the enormity of their task.
Each chieftain makes a speech in which he thinks of his likely imminent death. Eldred will miss feasting with his friends, while Colan regrets the things of the future that he now will never see. Mark toughs it out by shutting out everything except “a black laughter” (Line 65). As for Alfred, his thoughts are more explicitly Christian. He confesses his sins, which include murder, lust, and adultery, the latter when he was a young man. He also asks for a Christian burial, where he will lie until the general resurrection, “till the holy horn is blown / And all poor men are free” (Lines 80-81).
Following Alfred’s lead, Eldred admits his faults; he was a fool who wasted food and drink, and now he asks that in death, he be yoked to his oxen on his farm for burial, and mourned by his friends and his dog. Colan reveals that his Druid heritage is still lively inside him. The Druids believed that trees were sacred and offered a deep connection to the divine. Trees were incorporated into Druidic rituals and myths of life, death, and rebirth. As Colan puts it: “The tall trees of Britain / We worshiped and were wise” (Lines 122-23). Colan will be content to lie in his Christian grave (“With a cross upon my clay” [Line 137]) and hear the trees talking to one another. As for Mark, he says that he does not care whether he is the first to die in the battle or if he lives much longer. He wants to be buried where he falls; the specific place does not matter because it is all Roman earth to him, so connected does he feel to his tradition and ancestry, remembering that England was once part of the Roman Empire.
As the two armies face each other, Harold and Colan boast and taunt each other in a manner that will be familiar to readers of epic poetry such as Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. It is just what these ancient warriors do, as presented by the bards that celebrate their exploits. In this ballad, Harold mocks the ragged appearance of Colan and his men, calling them “Broken bits of earth” (Line 194) and “scarecrows” (Line 227).
Colan responds by taking up the word “broken” and giving it a Christian meaning. The hearts of Christians are broken in the cause of their Lord, who broke bread with his disciples and said ‘’this is my body, which is broken for you” (1 Cor. 11:24 KJV), thus prefiguring the crucifixion. Colan also boasts about his Irish heritage, for Ireland too is a land of “broken hearts” (Line 223)—and “broken heads” (Line 224) too, which is what will happen to Harold, says Colan, should he ever dare to venture there.
The battle has not yet begun, but Harold is so contemptuous of Colan that he prepares to shoot him with an arrow right there and then. Before he can do it, however, Colan, in a fantastical and almost miraculous move, whirls his sword around his head and launches it in Harold’s direction. The sword strikes Harold in the head, killing him. Alfred, who seems to be able to take any incident and turn it into a Christian parable, interprets the sword as a metaphor of the Christian heart, which throws itself into its divine tasks without thought of self-preservation: Christians “cast their hearts out of their ken / To get their hearts’ desire” (Lines 274-75). Still with Colan’s sword-throwing in mind, Alfred pictures Christ as a warrior who fires just one arrow in order to win the battle: The arrow of love.
The English thus draw first blood in the battle, and their valiant leader ingeniously interprets the incident in terms of their shared Christian faith. It appears to be an optimistic sign, yet there is misery to come.
Book VI: Ethandune: The Slaying of the Chiefs
Historians do not know a great deal about the battle itself, other than the fact that Alfred was victorious. The lack of historical knowledge frees Chesterton to create a dramatic scenario in which victory will be snatched from the jaws of defeat.
As the battle gets underway, Chesterton employs many epic or extended similes to describe the action, just as Homer and Virgil had done, as well as Milton in his epic poem, Paradise Lost. At the beginning, Eldred is the outstanding figure. He and his men fight with those of Elf on the eastern side of the battle. Eldred is a mighty force (“he moved like a massacre” [Line 36]) until disaster strikes—his sword breaks and seven enemy spears rain down upon him. One of those spears belongs to Elf, and it is reputed to have magical properties; it was given to him by the “monstrous water-maids” (Line 59) who dwell in the Rhine river. This reference to Norse mythology reminds the reader again of the pagan beliefs of the Danes.
The contrast with the Christian worldview will immediately become apparent as the narrative turns to Mark. His men, not as strong in their Christian faith, are frightened by the supernatural spear of Elf and halt their advance. Mark has to reinspire them. He can do this because he is well-grounded in his faith. It stands on grounds of reason and can meet all tests. After Mark kills Elf with his spear, he affirms the superiority of the Christian God over the gods of the heathens, who represent only death. Mark’s God created the world like a good craftsman and continues to love it. In the two stanzas that immediately follow (Lines 161-72), Mark celebrates God as being in charge of nature and shaping it to good ends (an implicit contrast with the notion of objects themselves, like Elf’s spear, having magical powers).
Mark’s victory does not last long, however, and he is soon cut down by Ogier after a brutal struggle. Hatred as embodied by Ogier thus has its moment of triumph, and Ogier celebrates what he sees as the final end of Roman civilization. He and his fellow men from the north will replace it; Christianity in England will also be obliterated. He taunts Mark’s men as “These humbled Wessex hounds” (Line 255) and he also anticipates the end of the world, a cataclysmic event known in Norse mythology as the Ragnarök, in which the gods themselves will die.
The Danes now gain the upper hand, and although Alfred and Colan continue to fight valiantly, their forces are pushed back. They are further weakened when their forces get separated, and Colan is killed. It looks as if everything will end in disaster for Alfred and his men.
Book VII: Ethandune: The Last Charge
Working with the bare historical facts, Chesterton has created a careful dramatic structure at this point in the ballad. He knows that the reader knows Alfred’s army will win the battle, but he has raised the tension by presenting the Danes as being in complete charge while Alfred seems to be facing certain defeat. This is meant to create more dramatic tension than would have been possible had Alfred’s men won more easily.
The apparent or near defeat of the hero or heroes is a common structural element in a variety of literary forms—in fairy tales, such as “Snow White,” and novels, including Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: The hero is at the nadir of his or her fortunes and all hope seems lost, but then comes an unexpected turnaround. Tolkien coined the term “eucatastrophe” to describe such a change in fortunes. It comes from the Greek word “eu,” meaning good, so it means a catastrophe that turns into something good.
This is indeed what happens in Book VII. Alfred is an unusual hero in the sense that even when all hope appears to be lost, he does not get discouraged. As a Christian, he simply goes on striving and fighting. When Book VII begins, he is compared to an innocent child playing with stones in the downs, building a tower or a town until it falls down, and then rebuilding it. Like the child, Alfred now starts again: “[C]rouching in the furze and ferns / He began his life once more” (Lines 64-65).
A common trope in these situations, when the hero is almost beaten, is that his adversaries get overconfident. They think they have already won and relax their guard, becoming careless. This gives the hero an opportunity to turn the tide, against all odds, and the reader gets the emotional thrill of watching it all unfold. This is what happens in the ballad. Alfred observes the Danish camp and sees that the men, proud of their accomplishment, are now scattered, talking and laughing; they have lit a fire, and a cask (a barrel, likely containing alcohol) has been opened.
Alfred blows his horn and his men, who were fleeing the scene, now stand still. Alfred gives an inspirational speech, telling them it is better to go down fighting than to accept enslavement and starvation. After his 10-stanza speech (Lines 102-150), his men are ready again for the fray, their “fury [is] deeper than deep fear” (Line 154). The Danes are astonished to see the English lines preparing to charge and wonder why “The people of the peace of God / Went roaring down to die” (Lines 182-83). The situation still seems beyond repair for the English, though, as the “hopeless horn” (Line 188) of Alfred sounds.
Then Alfred has a vision of the Virgin Mary, with seven swords in her heart (which are the traditional Seven Sorrows of Mary) and a sword in her hand—the latter a very unusual depiction of the Virgin as a warrior. Tolkien emphasized that the eucatastrophe often results from a seemingly miraculous act of grace or a supernatural intervention. This is close to what happens here, since the militant image of the Virgin clearly suggests that she is aiding Alfred in the fight.
After the battle restarts, Alfred kills Ogier, and the Christians throw themselves at the Danes in a tremendous assault, “bursting all and blasting / Came Christendom like death” (Lines 225-26). Alfred cries out that the tide has turned and that the Mother of God is helping them, “Walking on wind and flame” (Line 248). As the Danes are driven back, this is the first part of the “good” that suddenly emerges from the catastrophe. Inspired, Alfred kills many Danes.
Then there is another huge surprise as “A crowning and crashing wonder smote / The rear-guard of the Dane” (Lines 292-33). This is the remnant of Colan’s army that has heard the sounds of battle and rushed to join it: “[W]ith wild yells [they] came pouring in / Naked as their old British kin” (Lines 298-99) and painted with blood. They carry aloft the body of Colan, their leader, and the sounds of their pipes are heard—whether real or imaginary: “[T]he ghastly war-pipes of the Gael / Called to the horns of White Horse Vale / And all the horns replied (Lines 315-17). As a continuation of the eucatastrophe, this stirring passage recalls Tolkien’s comment about the emotional response it tries to produce in the reader.
Vivid, apocalyptic imagery follows; there is disorder in the heavens and on the earth, and King Guthrum realizes the momentous implications of it: A new era is dawning. This foreshadows not only the defeat of the Danes but also the long-term triumph of Christianity.
The Book ends quietly with the conversion of Guthrum to Christianity. The lack of fuss about it conveys what appears to have been the historical reality, that the king was fully willing to become a Christian. Given that the Danes, even after their defeat at Ethundane, still occupied large parts of England, this was an assurance that Christianity would “blaze a thousand years” (Line 360) in that country.
Book VIII: The Scouring of the Horse
The main elements of this Book are the wisdom of Alfred’s rule during peacetime, the return of war with the Danes, and Alfred’s prophetic vision of the assaults that Christianity will face in the distant future from a different kind of enemy.
The Book begins with a tribute to the Virgin Mary for the assistance she gave during the battle (stanza 1). This is followed by a description of the peaceful years that followed the treaty with the Danes, when Alfred ruled Wessex and Guthrum ruled northeast England. These stanzas are a paean of praise for Alfred, who ruled wisely and well. He encouraged culture, collecting songs and stories from the people of Wessex. He gave to the poor and needy and passed “good laws” (Line 39) that applied to nobles and thieves alike. This is an allusion to the historical Laws of Alfred that the king enacted, which covered such matters as criminal law, property rights, and family law, serving as important milestones in the development of English common law.
In the ballad, Alfred’s reputation spreads and he becomes an internationally known figure (as did the historical Alfred). Many people from foreign lands come to visit his court, and he also sends out ambassadors to many lands. Alfred resists temptations to try to expand the scope of his kingdom beyond Wessex to other parts of England. He is content with what he has. He also makes sure that the White Horse is maintained in a proper manner.
When Alfred is old, the Danes invade again. One of the young earls is alarmed, but Alfred’s response shows he is not surprised. Just as weeds grow around the White Horse and must be pulled out, so also war comes from time to time. It cannot be permanently prevented. Just as he had before Ethandune, Alfred raises another army, from all corners of Wessex.
He also envisions that hundreds of years in the future, new heathen invaders will come. They will be different from the old ones; they will not come on warships, “But books be all their eating / And ink be on their hands” (Lines 250-51). In other words, there are more ways to conquer than with the sword. Alfred anticipates the Copernican revolution in the16th century, in which the age-old geocentric understanding of the universe gave way to the heliocentric view: “The dear sun dwarfed of dreadful suns / Like fiercer flowers on stalk, Earth lost and little like a pea / In high heaven’s towering forestry” (Lines 264-65). In other words, humankind will no longer be at the center of the universe.
Alfred also envisions the rise of various secular philosophies that will have no place for Christian thought. Chesterton has in mind (Lines 273-312) philosophies that were prominent in his own time, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chesterton scholars have interpreted these passages as referring to a wide range of philosophies and beliefs, including nihilism, Freudianism, hedonism, existentialism, and materialism, although many readers may find that Chesterton’s condensed and sometimes obscure images and metaphors are hard to interpret with any precision or certainty regarding particular systems of thought.
The ballad ends on a note of war. Alfred marches with his army first to aid the Saxons in the eastern part of the country, where there are some fierce battles. The White Horse is left untended, overgrown with grass, moss, and plants. The work of preserving civilization is never-ending.
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