Audiobook · read by volunteers
Ballad of the White Horse
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936)
Read by Joshua B. Christensen · 9 chapters · 1 h 54
About the book
England is in ruins. The Danes have swept across the land, burning, plundering and winning battle after battle, and King Alfred of Wessex is a fugitive hiding in the marshes with a handful of followers. Then, in a vision, the Virgin Mary appears to him and tells him nothing he wants to hear. G. K. Chesterton’s long poem takes the old story of Alfred’s stand against the pagan raiders and turns it into a ringing, richly coloured ballad full of banners, harp songs, sudden dangers and the clash of armies. It is a poem about courage, faith and the odd kind of hope that survives when everything seems lost. The verse swings along with a strong beat, and its images stay in the mind: white horses carved in hillsides, darkness closing in, and a king who must learn what it means to lead. Joshua B. Christensen reads all nine sections with energy and conviction.
Introduction
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in 1874 and died in 1936. He was a prolific English writer, a journalist, critic, poet and novelist, who is perhaps best known today for the Father Brown detective stories and for The Man Who Was Thursday. He was famous in his own day for paradox, humour and a deep, often combative attachment to the Christian faith.
The Ballad of the White Horse was published in 1911. It is a long narrative poem in the manner of the old English and Celtic heroic tradition, written in rhymed quatrains with a driving rhythm. Its subject is King Alfred, who ruled in the ninth century and is remembered for resisting the Danish invasions. Chesterton blends history with legend, and presents the struggle as a clash of worldviews, in which a weary Christian civilisation faces a dark and fatalistic paganism. Readers should be aware that the poem reflects the attitudes and some of the assumptions of its time, and that its picture of the invaders is more symbolic than historical.
The poem is divided into a prefatory note with a dedication and eight books, and this recording covers all of it, from the vision of the king to the scouring of the white horse. The verse moves at the pace of a ballad, with a beat that never slackens, so even the long speeches are easy to follow by ear. It runs for about two hours and is read by volunteer Joshua B. Christensen.
It suits listeners who like epic poetry, English history or the grand rhythms of Chesterton’s prose and verse. The poem also lends itself well to being heard aloud, since its music was clearly meant for the ear.
Public domain
G. K. Chesterton died in 1936: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text