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Another Perspective
Epic Chesterton
We would do well to remember The Ballad of the White Horse, his inspiring poem set a thousand years ago.
(Page 2 of 3)
And the man was come like a shadow
From the shadow of Druid trees
Where Usk with might murmurings,
Past Caerleon of the fallen kings
Goes out to ghostly seas.Last of a race in ruins
He spoke the speech of the Gaels;
His kin were in Holy Ireland,
Or up in the crags of Wales …His harp was carved and cunning
As the Celtic craftsman makes,
Graven all over with twisting shapes,
Like many headless snakes …
Having arranged for the chiefs to meet him as soon as they can gather their forces, Alfred wanders on alone in thought over the “shrill sea-downs”, through the ruined landscape towards the meeting-place, playing his harp in the dusk (“The rook croaked homeward heavily, the West was clear and wan …”). He is captured by a party of relatively good-humored, drunken Danes, who, admiring his harp-playing, bring him before their chief, Guthrum of the Northern Sea, the Emperor of the Great Army, and three of his principal Earls. Each, after listening to Alfred’s playing, takes the harp and makes a song on it, and Alfred learns that despite their power and terror they are actually despairing and terrified of death.
The young Earl Harald consoles himself with the excitement of battle and plunder. He tells Alfred:
“Doubtless your sires were sword-swingers,
When they waded fresh from foam,
Before they were turned to women
By the God of the nails from Rome;“But since you bent to the shaven men,
Who neither lust nor smite,
Thunder of Thor! We hunt you,
A hare on the mountain height!”
Elf, the Viking minstrel, consoles himself with music and artistic tragedy:
As he sang of Balder beautiful,
Whom the heavens could not save,
Till the world was like a sea of tears
And every soul a wave …
The dreadful Earl Ogier’s consolation in the face of death is destruction (“The barest branch is beautiful, one moment, as it breaks”), but beyond them is Guthrum, who has passed even through that and is staring into a universe of despair too absolute even for Nihilism:
“When a man shall read what is written
So plain in clouds and clods;
When he shall hunger without hope
Even for evil gods …”
The nameless, shabby “rhymester without a home” who is Alfred replies to this Pagan hopelessness:
“Our God hath blessed creation,
Calling it good. I know
The spirit with which you blindly band
Hath blessed destruction with his hand;
Yet by God’s death the stars still stand
And the small apples grow …”
Next day the armies meet. Alfred’s makeshift Army, having had their courage raised in the night by Alfred’s inspired speech, despair at the sight of the overwhelming forces against them, and see the “high folly” of what they are attempting. The Vikings march out in savage magnificence:
The Earls of the Great Army
Lay in a long half-moon,
Ten poles before their palisades,
With wide-winged helms and runic blades,
Red giants of the age of raids,
In the thornland of Ethandune.
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (28) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Hal G.P. Colebatch
More Articles From Another Perspective
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/11/epic-chesterton
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Tim| 6.11.09 @ 8:38AM
I have a vision, and I know
The heathen shall return.
"They shall not come with warships,
They shall not waste with brands,
But books be all their eating,
And ink be on their hands.
"Not with the humour of hunters
Or savage skill in war,
But ordering all things with dead words,
Strings shall they make of beasts and birds,
And wheels of wind and star.
Take a look
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_the_White_Horse
Dave| 6.11.09 @ 9:59AM
Wow!! Thanks for the heads up. I never heard of this poem. But I intend to purchase a copy of it. It will be inspiring reading!
Lars Walker | 6.11.09 @ 10:06AM
I was asked to speak at a Chesterton Society meeting a few years back, and spoke about "The Ballad of the White Horse." Surprisingly, very few of these Chesterton fans were familiar with the poem.
"It is only Christian men, guard even heathen things." That pretty much sums up my own approach to my beloved Viking studies.
Tim| 6.11.09 @ 2:10PM
Alas, you say "poetry" and 90% of the people head for the exits. You say "military political" and 90% of the poetry people then leave the room.
This is a great classic and thanks to Mr. Colebach for his essay!
Roskill| 6.12.09 @ 12:56AM
And Alfred's great answer to the Viking chiefs:
"And though I lie on the floor of the world
With the Seven Sins for rods,
I would rather fall with Adam
Than rise with all your gods."
Morton A. Goldberg, DVM | 6.12.09 @ 1:00AM
No need to buy a copy. You can download it from the Gutenberg Project here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1719
For an excellent free ebook reader, check out yBook here: http://www.spacejock.com/yBook.html
Roskill| 6.12.09 @ 2:47AM
"No need to buy a copy." On the other hand, it might be decent to help the publishers. Also, the Ingnatius edition has an interesting foreword and notes and is iullustrated it excellent woodcuts.
Morton A. Goldberg, DVM | 6.14.09 @ 1:05PM
It's a Public Domain book, Roskill. My comment "No need to buy a copy" was intended to convey the fact that one has a choice in the matter.
If you like the Ignatius edition well enough to want to own a copy, then by all means buy one. Or would you also want to close all the libraries so that anyone wanting to read any book would have no choice than to either "help the publishers" or do without?
The Gutenberg Project is simply an extension of the Public Library concept which allows anyone to obtain e-texts of thousands of the greatest books ever written for no cost other than the slight bit of bandwidth it takes to download them. All of its books are in the Public Domain, and their authors long dead. I feel no guilt whatsoever in downloading their books at no cost.
pingback| 6.15.09 @ 12:33AM
The score remains :
Ogier 1
Alfred 0
roskill| 7.21.09 @ 6:44AM
"I feel no guilt whatsoever in downloading their books at no cost.'
Yes, a lot of people feel no guilt whatsoever about things they do.
Had you notived that in civilized countries public authors pay authors a public lending right?
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