“The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.”
Acknowledged as one of the last great epic poems in the English language, G. K. Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse describes King Alfred the Great’s battle against The Great Heathen Army in 878.
While it brilliantly portrays the kinetic Battle of Ethandun - comprising of a detailed combat, lively characters and even divine interference by the Virgin Mary - it further serves as an enduring parable of the spiritual conflict between Christendom and Paganism.
