FUS RO DAH! No, seriously, just knock em down.
What level are you? Are you bringing a follower? If not, you should - more targets. Liberal use of Shouts, Battle Cry (if Nord), Beast RAWR (if werewolf), Fear spells, etc should help break up any crowds and give you more time to deal with individual enemies.
I'm sad to say I don't really remember it being that difficult for my Nord warrior - only took the one attempt - but he was in his 20s and pretty durable, being a plate tank guy with a big knife who hit things really hard.
If all else fails, you can always turn down the difficulty for that one battle (or during the battle if it starts to go south).