The Ballad of the White Horse

“The Convert” by G. K. Chesterton 

This lyric poem is told in the first person by Lazarus, the man whom Jesus raised from the dead, according to the Gospels. He says he has no interest in what any of the “sages” say about life, in spite of all their learning. All intellectual discussion about the nature of life is meaningless to him because the simple fact that he came back from the dead dwarfs everything else. Nothing else could ever be as significant as that. 

“Lepanto” by G. K. Chesterton (1915)

As in The Ballad of the White Horse, this poem depicts a military conflict in which the forces of Christianity defeat non-Christian forces. The Battle of Lepanto, in 1571, was a naval battle in which a Christian Catholic fleet known as the Holy League defeated an Ottoman Empire (that is, Turkish Moslem) fleet in the Gulf of Patras, in the Ionian Sea. 

Written in rhyming couplets, the Christian hero Don John of Austria, commander of the fleet, sails into battle. Written during World War I, when the Ottoman Empire was part of the Quadruple Alliance that fought against Britain, France, and their allies, “Lepanto” had a contemporary reference for Chesterton and his early readers. 

“The Donkey” by G. K. Chesterton (1900) 

This short poem is narrated in the first person by a donkey, who well understands that he is not beautiful, with “monstrous head and sickening cry / And ears like errant wings.” Donkeys have never been much admired and the word itself has come to mean a stupid person (and an adult male donkey is also known as a jackass). Nevertheless, the donkey in the poem had his special moment, because Christ rode into Jerusalem on his back as a sign of humility.