Henry V

The three individual plays launch the third edition of the venerable "Arden Shakespeare" series, which will see the entire canon reproduced in superior scholarly editions by the year 2000. The First Folio is a facsimile edition of the original 1623 publication of the bard's works. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 7-9ÄThis effort fails miserably as an introduction to the play or as a review tool for high school students. Plenty of well-written treatments exist at a variety of lengths and language levels that present the story with some of the verve it deserves. Given the choice here of short words and sentences and choppy, one-to-three sentence paragraphs, this British import may well have been intended for reluctant readers. If so, any advantage of the extreme simplicity of language is overbalanced by the truly dreadful illustrations. Anyone struggling with Shakespeare would be further turned off by these blurry, careless, unpleasant black-and-white drawings that face every page of text. Random and often inaccurate definitions at the bottoms of a few text pages and equally random-seeming quotations under the illustrations complete this unappealing package.ÄSally Margolis, Barton Public Library, VT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This series continues to translate classic literature into graphic-novel format using excerpts from the originals, unimaginative panel illustrations, stilted and sometimes extraneous summary text ("Mr. Enfield begins his tale"), and explanatory footnotes. Characters are often difficult to identify; text, summary, and illustrations are occasionally mismatched. The whole conveys nothing of what makes these stories classic. Mildly interesting back matter is included. Timeline. Ind. [Review covers these Graphic Classics titles: Julius Caesar and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Act 1 Scene 1 running scene 1 Enter the two Bishops of Canterbury and Ely CANTERBURY My lord, I'll tell you: that self bill is urged, Which in th'eleventh year of the last king's reign Was like, and had indeed against us passed, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question. ELY But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? CANTERBURY It must be thought on: if it pass against us, We lose the better half of our possession. For all the temporal lands which men devout By testament have given to the Church Would they strip from us; being valued thus: As much as would maintain, to the king's honour, Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights, Six thousand and two hundred good esquires, And, to relief of lazars and weak age Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil, A hundred almshouses right well supplied, And to the coffers of the king beside, A thousand pounds by th'year. Thus runs the bill. ELY This would drink deep. CANTERBURY 'Twould drink the cup and all. ELY But what prevention? CANTERBURY The king is full of grace and fair regard. ELY And a true lover of the holy church. CANTERBURY The courses of his youth promised it not. The breath no sooner left his father's body, But that his wildness, mortified in him, Seemed to die too. Yea, at that very moment Consideration like an angel came And whipped th'offending Adam out of him, Leaving his body as a paradise, T'envelop and contain celestial spirits. Never was such a sudden scholar made, Never came reformation in a flood, With such a heady currance, scouring faults, Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, As in this king. ELY We are blessèd in the change. CANTERBURY Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would desire the king were made a prelate. Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs, You would say it hath been all in all his study. List his discourse of war, and you shall hear A fearful battle rendered you in music. Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter, that, when he speaks, The air, a chartered libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences, So that the art and practic part of life Must be the mistress to this theoric: Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it, Since his addiction was to courses vain, His companies unlettered, rude and shallow, His hours filled up with riots, banquets, sports, And never noted in him any study, Any retirement, any sequestration From open haunts and popularity. ELY The strawberry grows underneath the nettle And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best Neighboured by fruit of baser quality. And so the prince obscured his contemplation Under the veil of wildness, which, no doubt, Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty. CANTERBURY It must be so, for miracles are ceased. And therefore we must needs admit the means How things are perfected. ELY But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill Urged by the commons? Doth his majesty Incline to it, or no? CANTERBURY He seems indifferent, Or rather swaying more upon our part Than cherishing th'exhibitors against us, For I have made an offer to his majesty, Upon our spiritual convocation And in regard of causes now in hand, Which I have opened to his grace at large, As touching France, to give a greater sum Than ever at one time the clergy yet Did to his predecessors part withal. ELY How did this offer seem received, my lord? CANTERBURY With good acceptance of his majesty, Save that there was not time enough to hear, As I perceived his grace would fain have done, The severals and unhidden passages Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms And generally to the crown and seat of France, Derived from Edward, his great-grandfather. ELY What was th'impediment that broke this off? CANTERBURY The French ambassador upon that instant Craved audience; and the hour I think is come To give him hearing. Is it four o'clock? ELY It is. CANTERBURY Then go we in to know his embassy, Which I could with a ready guess declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. ELY I'll wait upon you and I long to hear it. Exeunt Excerpted from Henry V by William Shakespeare All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.