Ballad of the White Horse: Interpretive Essay
Compare and contrast the attitudes of the pagans of Alfred’s own time as expressed in their harp songs (see Book III, lines 91-293) with the attitudes of the future pagans prophesied by Alfred (see Book VIII, lines 231-306):
Include both A and B below:
A. Focus on the similarities between the old pagans and new pagans as they are portrayed in the Ballad regarding any three of the following four attitudes:
1. The only happiness in life is found through pleasure
2. Sadness necessarily results from the fact that there is no almighty power that can conquer evil.
3. It is easy to hate and destroy since a dark fate controls the gods (if there are gods) and the world.
4. It is likely life has no ultimate meaning since it is hard to believe people survive death.
B. Then focus on one major difference: how one group depends more on the use of violence to spread paganism and how the other depends more on the use of false ideas in speech and in print to spread paganism.
Be sure to read the footnotes and sidebars from Book VIII: 248-56 to Book VIII: 296, pp. 221-223, and the answers to #14-15 in the answer key to the Discussion Questions.
Remember that the attitudes of both the pagan Danes and the new pagans are conveyed by images in the poem and not by description and explanation.