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The Ballad of the White Horse
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Themes
Good Versus Evil
The theme of good, represented by the Christianity of Alfred and his army, versus evil, embodied in the paganism of the Danish Viking invaders, is present throughout the ballad. The values of the two sides are entirely different: One embodies a faith that emphasizes love, and the other embodies hate. One stands for civilization, the other for destruction.
The invaders are presented in negative terms from the outset. They are “blinder than the sea” (Bk I, Line 65), in contrast to the Christians, who see the truth of things in the highest sense. The Danes are “the devils of the sea” (Book I, Line 145). They sing about “cruel” (Bk I, Line 270) and “shameful” (Line 275) things; they indulge in “sacrilege and scorn” (Bk 3, Line 22) wherever they set up their camps in England. They also despise Christianity; Harold, one of the “evil earls” (Bk IV, Line 138) claims that Christianity emasculated Alfred’s forebears: “[T]hey were turned to women / By the god of the nails from Rome” (Bk III, Lines 128-29). Another Danish earl, Ogier, believes that “hate alone is true” (Bk III, Line 230). Later, Alfred offers the completely opposite Christian truth, when he states that Christ’s sole weapon is the arrow of love (Bk V, Lines 283-85).
The Danish king Guthrum, even though he is more restrained and dignified than the earls, is nonetheless described as “a dread king / Like death out of the north” (Bk V, Lines 1-2). He and his men destroy Christian monasteries and towns wherever they go, and Ogier’s vision is of the complete elimination of Christianity. In contrast, Christians stand for the preservation of culture and civilization, even pre-Christian civilization. The worldview of Guthrum and the Danes is that everything ends in death, even for the gods; they do not understand the Christian view that there is one God—they have many—who is good and who created the world, which is also good and must be valued as such. There is a telling moment when the Virgin Mary appears to Alfred; she reaches out and “stroked the tall live grass / As a man strokes his steed” (Bk I, Lines 166-67), which suggests the infinite value of the created world. Mark refers to God as a “craftsman good” (Bk VI, Line 158), and for Alfred, “God is a great servant” (Bk IV, Line 103).
All these differences underlie the fierce conflict been the native population and the invader. From Alfred’s point of view, it is an eternal struggle to maintain Christian values against everything that would destroy them.
The Importance of Perseverance
Perseverance in the face of discouragement is a Christian virtue that looms large in the ballad. When the tale begins, Alfred has sustained a series of defeats in his struggle against the Danes. He is in danger of losing all control over his kingdom of Wessex and has gone into hiding on an island in the Somerset marshes. His position looks hopeless, and he is in despair; he feels that God has deserted his country and given it to the Danes. He is saved only by his vision of the Virgin, who impresses upon him the need to keep fighting even though the odds are against him: He must have “joy without a cause; Yea, faith without hope” (Bk I, Lines 260-61). She does not promise him victory, and instead says that the situation is going to get much worse. This is the first lesson Alfred learns in perseverance: Whether a Christian warrior wins a war or not is in a sense beside the point—what matters is that he should never give up.
Alfred then has to convince others. Eldred thinks it is useless to go to war again. Why should he agree to see his men killed because their leaders tell them, as they always do, “As in all fights, that we shall gain / And in all fights we fail?” (Bk II, Lines 56-57). Alfred, however, given his new perspective, manages to convince him. When Alfred recruits Mark, he acknowledges the truth of his own situation, that he is “that oft-defeated King / Whose failure fills the land” (Line 147-48), a “conquered King” (Bk II, Line 245). Nevertheless, Alfred is not ashamed of this fact because the important thing is that he is ready to try again.
In his guise as a harpist, Alfred informs the Danes that “The hare has still more heart to run / Than you have heart to ride” (Bk III, Lines 337-38) and “We have more lust again to lose / Than you to win again” (Lines 341-42). In this counterintuitive sentiment, it is the victor who is exhausted, and the vanquished who still has the energy and will to fight on. Alfred shows that he has absorbed the words of the Virgin; he knows what he is fighting for and he will do whatever it takes to continue, whether he wins or not.
More trials are to come. When Alfred is almost defeated at Ethandune, it seems that he has returned to the despair he experienced in Athelnay. He is “crouching in the furze and ferns” (Bk VII, Line 64), yet he is different from the man he was then, as he simply resolves to fight on: “He began his life once more” (Line 65). In that respect, he resembles a child on the downs who builds up a tower from small stones, and when it falls down, he just starts the whole process again without fuss. So it is with Alfred—the will to go on is more important than the outcome.
The Ideal Christian Life and King
The ballad is dominated by war, the clash of sword, spear, and shield and the exploits of courageous warriors. However, in quieter moments, and when peace reigns again, the ideal of the Christian life is brought into focus. This is seen in the character of Alfred—what he thinks about, and how he acts. Through Alfred’s experiences, the ballad presents a vision of the ideal Christian life and king.
Alfred absorbs the lesson he learns from the Virgin about living in a joyous way even if events seem not to favor him. The joy comes from following the demands of the Christian life, whether it is in repelling the pagan invader or ruling peacefully as King of Wessex after the war, knowing that the peace will not last forever. Alfred understands also the paradox of Christian life: That a man must lose his life in order to save it, that is, he must transcend the small, individual self, with all its petty dissatisfactions, and rediscover himself in his dedication to a higher life and a higher cause. (The verse from Luke’s gospel, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” [9:24] lies behind this paradox.)
A significant incident that tests his character comes when he encounters the peasant woman at the hut in the forest. Her humble position in life makes him thoughtful; he does not see her as inferior to him or insignificant. He is moved to compassion by her plight and thinks of the promise of the future when “the kingdom of the poor on earth / Come, as it is in heaven” (Bk IV, Lines 143-44). After all, why should God not “with the serving-folk / Cast in His Dreadful lot” (Lines 85-86) since God is a servant too? Alfred thinks with gratitude of all the things that God provides for him and for all people.
Alfred does not lose sight, however, of the poor woman’s situation right now—her life is hard and not likely to get any better in this life, like many others, and he empathizes with ordinary folk, like the “Field-breaker and fisher on the wave / And woodman and waggoner” (Lines 149-50). When she rebukes him for his carelessness in letting the cakes burn, he does not suddenly reveal himself as the king and haughtily punish her for the slap she gave him. Instead, he accepts that he deserved it and even laughs at himself. Thus, he overcomes the sin of pride and shows a humility that is part of his character as a Christian king.
As a ruler after the peace treaty, Alfred brings all this accumulation of wisdom to his role as king. He gives alms and makes just laws, and he is personally content. He is not covetous and has no interest in expanding his kingdom, in spite of what some of his advisers urge. He knows that the beauty and worth of things are not related to their size, and he is happy on a sunny day to sit with his Bible in his orchard under the apple trees (Bk VIII, Lines 29-32). In peace as well as war, Alfred thus exemplifies Christian virtues.
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