G. K. Chesterton 
The Ballad of the White Horse 

The Ballad of the White Horse G. K. Chesterton – The Ballad of the White Horse is one of the last great epic poems in the English language. On the one hand it describes King Alfreds battle against the Danes in 878. On the other hand it is a timeless allegory about the ongoing battle between Christianity and the forces of nihilistic heathenism. Filled with colorful characters, thrilling battles and mystical visions, it is as lively as it is profound.Chesterton incorporates brilliant imagination, atmosphere, moral concern, chronological continuity, wisdom and fancy. He makes his stanzas reverberate with sound, and hurries his readers into the heart of the battle.

About the author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.He was educated at St. Pauls, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.s Weekly.Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.