Chorus
Henry V, Romeo and Juliet
Notes on Chorus
Richard, Romeo, Juliet and the Sonnet
Read the NoteTwo of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Richard III and Romeo and Juliet, open with sonnets and then employ variations on the sonnet’s structure for dramatic and poetic effect, which is not surprising. At this point in Shakespeare’s life he seems to have had dual career goals. First, he wanted to make money, which he could accomplish through theatre.
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Quotes spoken by the character Chorus
O, for a muse of fire
Read the QuoteO, for a muse of fire that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!Metaphor
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!Anapodoton
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?
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Two households, both alike in dignity
Read the SonnetTwo households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudgeParenthesis break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.Antanaclesis & Synecdoche
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life
From forth the fatal loins of these two foesAlliteration,
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Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie
Read the SonnetNow old desire doth in his deathbed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir.
That fair for which love groaned for and would die,
With tender Juliet matched, is now not fair.
But passion lends them power, time means, to meet
Now Romeo is beloved and loves again,
Alike bewitchèd by the charm of looks,
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Now all the youth of England are on fire
Read the QuoteNow all the youth of England are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
Now thrive the armorers, and honor’s thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man.
They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,
Following the mirror of all Christian kings
With wingèd heels, as English Mercurys.
They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,
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Come, now a roundel and a fairy song
Read the QuoteTitania
Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence—
Some to kill cankers in the muskrose buds,
Some war with reremice for their leathern wings
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits.
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Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies
Read the QuoteThus with imagined wing our swift scene flies
In motion of no less celerity
Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen
The well-appointed king at Dover pier
Embark his royalty, and his brave fleet
With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.
Play with your fancies and in them behold,
Upon the hempen tackle, shipboys climbing.
In motion of no less celerity
Than that of thought.
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Now entertain conjecture of a time
Read the QuoteNow entertain conjecture of a time
When creeping murmur and the poring dark
Fills the wide vessel of the universe.
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
The hum of either army stilly sounds,
That the fixed sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other’s watch.
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
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Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story
Read the QuoteChorus
Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story
That I may prompt them; and of such as have,
I humbly pray them to admit th’ excuse
Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,
Which cannot in their huge and proper life
Be here presented.
Behold, the English beach
Pales in the flood with men,
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Thus far with rough and all-unable pen
Read the QuoteThus far with rough and all-unable pen
Our bending author hath pursued the story,
In little room confining mighty men,
Mangling by starts the full course of their glory.
Small time, but in that small most greatly lived
This star of England.
Small time, but in that small most greatly lived
This star of England. Fortune made his sword,
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