...kingly acts into the stuff of historical narrative; or, to follow Nancy Roelker and Shakespeare again, a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven...to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! This essay has examined the shaping of assemblies-with-the-king primarily as the invention of rulers...

...French noblemen at Agincourt The Life of Henry the Fifth Prologue Enter Chorus as Prologue CHORUS 0 for a muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...scene. Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, 5 Assume the port of Mars, and at his heels, The Life of Henry the Fifth] F ititle-page and running...

...that thought. 10253 Henry IV, Part 2 Commit The oldest sins the newest kind of ways. 10254 Hen ry V hat g 10255 Henry V I dare not fight: but I will wink and hold out mine iron. 10256 Henry V Once more unto...

...performed. As if a magician, in Henry v's opening lines, the Chorus/Shakespeare invokes unearthly powers: O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars . . . Then, characteristically, he pleads his own and his theatre's unworthiness. With something of...

...a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! </literallayout> < /blockquote> O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! — William Shakespeare, Henry V For additional examples, see also Part. — A list of the titles of...

...at other royal houses, like Oatlands, about which the Works accounts are silent. 74 3 Royal Theatres O. for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! But pardon, gentles all, The flat unraised spirits that hath dared On this unworthy scaffold 10 bring...

...with a "world-historical" subject, where Shakespeare himself has the Chorus make the same point: Play O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...invention, — A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarch* to behold the swelling scene! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port...

...stirring confidence in the dramatic powers of "invention" to serve and inspire the play's opening: O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...should famine, sword, and fire Crouch for employment. (1-8) To appropriate "A kingdom for a stage" with the help of imaginative "invention" seems a task...

...choral interludes, beginning with the prologue, which sounds like a Homeric invocation of the muse: O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest...warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars. (Prol.1-6) Shakespeare repeatedly presents military greatness in Henry V in terms of precedents from...

...nothing figured as zero which informs the conceit of the Prologue to Henry V. The opening peroration: 'O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest...act / And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!' (Prologue, 1—4) is followed by an apology for the 'flat unraised spirits' of the actors and 'unworthy...