The Life Of King Henry The Fifth

The general editors of the new series of forty-two volumes -- renowned Shakespeareans Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmuller of UCLA -- have assembled a team of six eminent scholars who have, along with the general editors themselves, prepared new introductions and notes to all of Shakespeare's plays and poems. Redesigned in an easy-to-read format that preserves the favorite features of the original -- and including an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare, an introduction to the individual play, and a note on the text used -- the new Pelican Shakespeare will be an excellent resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals well into the twenty-first century.

CHORUS. O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all, The flat unraised spirits that hath dar'd On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object. Can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt? O, pardon since a crooked figure may Attest in little place a million; And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,