I will never understand why any man wanted to fight for Henry V.

[Swede]

This day is called the Feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a-tiptoe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall see this day and live t'old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian":
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars
And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. They did it for the awesome PS3 games.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Swede...

When Kenneth Branagh spoke those lines, I wanted to sign up to fight alongside him and those lucky few!

If you haven't seen his version of Henry V, run, don't walk to your nearest video store or whatever, and SEE IT!

It will live in my memory forever!

:patriot:

[jobycom]

3. To avoid being arrested, put in the stocks, hung, drawn, quartered...

Stuff like that. Henry didn't ask.

[Aristus]

4. His ass was on the line, too.

"Come no more for ransom,
He shall have none, I swear, but
These my joints
Bid the Dauphin achieve me
And sell my bones"

That's from memory, so it might miss a few here and there. But that's still pretty powerful stuff...

[hedgehog]

5. It's a great speech set into a piece of ELizabethan propaganda.

Shakespeare was sort of the Leni Riefenstahl of his day.

Here are two versions for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAvmLDkAgAM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB-sNaaaJRU

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. My dear hedgehog...

Thank you for those!

Kenneth Branagh gives the BEST speech I have ever heard!

Pretty sneaky with that second clip, I must say...;-)

The Branagh clip reduces me to tears each and every time I hear it...Amazing!

[hedgehog]

9. I immediately thought of both the St. Crispin's Day speech and

the Kennedy connection when I heard Obama's speech January 3. The phrase "Now is the moment" sent chills down my spine.


http://books.google.com/books?id=cTFO_yOAXusC&pg=PA371&lpg=PA371&dq=st+crispin+Kennedy&source=web&ots=aEdZYAheqr&sig=QXN_MSZ_OLjml6YPx4_bFffr-ug&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result

[Swede]

10. Branagh's speech does give chills.

Old Will had a way with words.

[Orsino]

6. Hank may have been a warmongering egomaniac...

...with no cause beyond greed, but he was a damned charismatic one, and he led from the front.

There are worse creatures to die for.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear Orsino...

Absolutely!

Your comments are spot on!

Thank you...

:hug:

[Taverner]

11. They had a man-crush

[struggle4progress]

12. But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make

when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle
shall join together at the latter day
and cry all 'We died at such a place'
some swearing, some crying for a surgeon
some upon their wives left poor behind them
some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left

I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle
for how can they charitably dispose of any thing
when blood is their argument?

Now, if these men do not die well
it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it
whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection