The Ballad of the White Horse

The Ballad of the White Horse is a poem by G. K. Chesterton about the idealised exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great, published in 1911.

[2] The poem narrates how Alfred was able to defeat the invading Danes at the Battle of Ethandun with the aid of the Virgin Mary.

He says that he has chosen to place the site of the Battle of Ethandun in the Vale of the White Horse, despite the lack of concrete evidence for this placement (many scholars now believe it was probably fought at Edington, Wiltshire).

Chesterton asks his wife to remember their travels together to research the poem, and closes with verse that seems meant for her personally.

The Danes have invaded and nearly conquered England, and now drive the Wessex King Alfred into hiding on the river island of Athelney.

Greatly encouraged by Mary's words, Alfred sets out to try to muster the remaining Catholic chieftains and their followers.

Before travelling to the hut himself, Alfred decides to disguise himself as a minstrel to meet the Danish chieftains.

After he sings tales from the history of Wessex, Guthrum and his earls all take a turn playing the harp.

While waiting, an old woman offers to give Alfred one of the cakes she has been cooking if he will watch the fire for a time.

Astonished at first, Alfred laughs at his own foolishness and gives a speech about the dangers of pride to his now-gathered army.

Elf recovers his spear, which proves to be a magic weapon he obtained from the water-maids of the English Channel.

Back at the battle, the king gives a rousing battle-speech to restore the confidence of his men.

Suddenly, the Virgin Mary appears to Alfred when his army is on the brink of complete defeat.

Amid his defeat, Guthrum undergoes a genuine conversion to Alfred's faith, and is baptised after the battle.

Christopher Clausen has argued that The Ballad of the White Horse was a significant influence on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings fantasy novel.

[4] He argues that the basic structure and themes of the Ballad were borrowed and incorporated into the Lord of the Rings.

However, after Clausen's writing, it was revealed that Tolkien wrote disparagingly of parts of Chesterton's Ballad in his private letters.

The brilliant smash and glitter of the words and phrases (when they come off, and are not mere loud colours) cannot disguise the fact that G. K. C. knew nothing whatever about the 'North', heathen or Christian.

"[5] Robert E. Howard, the American author, poet and widely known pulp magazine "fictioneer", was much impressed by Chesterton's The Ballad of the White Horse.

In a letter to his friend Tevis Clyde Smith, dated 6 August 1926 (when Howard was 20), he writes: "There is great poetry being written now.

Howard uses select excerpts from Chesterton's poem to serve as epigraphs for chapter headings in some of his stories.

A musical setting for baritone soloist, chorus and orchestra (using about 20 percent of the text) was composed by John Gardner in 1959.