The American Spectator : Epic Chesterton

Epic Chesterton

By Hal G.P. Colebatch on 6.11.09 @ 6:05AM

(Page 3 of 3)

Still Alfred's forces attack. Harald, Eldred, Elf, and Mark are all slain, and the Danes, inspired by Ogier, come charging on:

"Down from the dome of the world we come,
Rivers on rivers down!
Under us swirl the sects and hoardes,
And the high dooms we drown …

"It is not Alfred's dwarfish sword
Nor Egbert's pigmy crown,
Shall stay us now that descend in thunder
Rending the realms and the realms thereunder,
Down through the world and down!"

Alfred's forces fight desperately but are swept away:

Vainly the sword of Colan,
And the axe of Alfred plied --
The Danes poured in like a brainless plague,
And knew not when they died.

Prince Colan slew a score of them,
And was stricken to his knee;
King Alfred slew a score and seven,
And was borne back on a tree …

Hopelessly beaten, Alfred points out to the fleeing remnant of his army that all the future has for them is slavery and starvation. It is better to die fighting on the right side. They launch a last hopeless counter-attack and sweep everything before them. Ogier dies under Alfred's axe, the great Viking banner of the Raven of Odin falls, "And the eyes of Guthrum altered, for the first time since dawn."

In the final part, describing the years of peace that follow, the king warns the fight will go on: barbarians will come in the future armed not only with warships and burning torches but also with books, with "the sign of the dying fire," and: "By this sign shall you know them: that they ruin and make dark."

C. S. Lewis has said that The Ballad of the White Horse is "permanent and dateless…does not the central theme of the ballad…embody the feeling, and the only possible feeling, with which in any age almost defeated men take up such arms as are left them and win?"

It is good to read The Ballad of the White Horse, and also to reflect that it is basically true. There really was a climatic battle at Ethandune (possibly modern Edington, where a white horse is carved on the chalk hillside, possibly originally in memory of the battle), and where, against all odds, the nascent Anglic civilization and its noble and undaunted king, after years of defeats and betrayals, really won the day, and where the barbarians really were not only defeated but Christianized: Guthrum, with Alfred as his Godfather, took the Baptismal name Athelstan and kept the peace for the rest of his life. In England learning, culture, and civilization were revived under Alfred's rule, and we really were saved from being savages forever. Thank you, G. K. Chesterton.

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Letter to the Editor

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

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.

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.

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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!

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

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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.