The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton

Description

When the Danes have overrun England and the lights of the monasteries are out, King Alfred stands alone on the down above the White Horse and is offered the future of his kingdom to read. What he reads is not victory. Chesterton’s ballad, first published in 1911, is that rare thing in modern poetry: an epic that keeps the old music alive while pressing its own argument about what England is.

The poem follows Alfred’s gathering of a bare handful of men, the great stand at Ethandune, and the long fall and slower rise of a Christian king against a pagan army. It glitters with Chesterton’s paradoxes even as it marches to ballad rhythm, and its battles are fought in words a child can remember.

Why readers still come back to it

• A genuine epic in English ballad metre, exhilarating to read aloud.
• Chesterton’s philosophy of hope disguised as a medieval war song.
• The White Horse of the title — the poem that explains a landmark on every map of the downs.

About this DodaBooks edition

Set with care for verse reading: stanzas are given room to breathe, the table of contents works from any screen, and the type stays crisp on phone, tablet, and reader alike. The completed order makes the verse yours instantly, ready for the first reading aloud.