Shakespeare, William
Henry the Fifth
I think my first contact with this play came via Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho," starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix. Later, I saw the Kenneth Branagh version. Still later, much later, actually, just a few years ago, to be exact, I read the play myself.
Sadly, whenever I think of this play, Kenneth Branagh's face pops into my head. I liked his version alright, but I have disliked him in almost everything since, which has tainted my opinion of his film, whatever its merits.
from Henry the Fifth
For so work the honey-bees,
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of sorts;
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,
Others, like soldiers, armèd in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor.
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