Colan : character in Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse.
... smote Earl Harold over the eye, And blood began to run. Page 50 Colan stood weaponless, while Earl Harold with a ghastly smile of defiance stumbled dead. Then Alfred, prince of England, And all the Christian earls, Unhooked their swords and held them up Each offered to Colan like a cup Of chrysolite and pearls. And the King said, "Do you take my... off into one another and it is difficult to distinguish them: most of Chesterton's splendid effects are such, but he has individual examples of each kind, too. Thus, the raggedness of the army led by Colan, the man with the Celtic strain in him, another ally of Alfred's, is pictured by a synecdoche: Grey as cobwebs hung The banners of the Usk. The words about Wessex enjoying an... however, that, at three places in the above, Chesterton finely executes three fourteener progressions: Whirling the one sword in his hand, a great wheel in the sun... Each offered to Colan like a cup of chrysolite and pearls... That they cast their hearts out of their ken to get their heart's desire... The whirled sword is described with an admirable breadth of voice, a quality ...
... Kentish house? Your short but vivid account of Champaklal's play with the ancient sword sent my mind to an incident in Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse: the feat of bow-less and sling-less Colan the Gael, swifter than the arrow-flight attempted by Earl Harold from the opposite side: Whirling the one sword round his head, A great wheel in the sun, 1. Scottish word for... shall not taste of victory Till he throws his sword away." Then Alfred, prince of England, And all the Christian earls, Unhooked their swords and held them up, Each offered to Colan, like a cup Of chrysolite and pearls. And the King said, "Do thou take my sword Who have done this deed of fire. For this is the manner of Christian men, Whether of steel or ...
... epic, like Kaikeyi's praise of Manthara's hump in the Ramayana; but this joke of Chesterton's does not merit such an apotheosis. That is ballad style, not mighty or epic. Again all that passage about Colan and Earl Harold is poor ballad stuff—except the first three lines and the last two—poor in diction, poor in movement. I am unable to enthuse over It smote Earl Harold over the eye And blood began ...
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