Shakespeare: Analyze the opening Chorus prologue in Henry V

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Introduction
Fire is one of man’s greatest invention. Shakespeare’s use of fire in this literary piece is symbolic. The invention of fire opens up a whole new world of possibility and a way to conquer new frontiers. As shown on how Shakespeare uses language, imagery, and rhythm in the Henry V prologue. The author captures the imagination of the audience to bring the whole world of play on the stage and liven the act into reality. In doing so, he takes the audience to travel a journey of history with him on the play as actual occurrences take place on the stage which is limited in space but the play is rich in content. The prologue keeps the audience informed of Henry’s circumstances and decisions that force him to invade France and the aftermath in the status quo; the well-planned war has taken a lot in preparation and for France the act of war triggers the desire to eliminate Henry in a well-orchestrated conspiracy. The prologue therefore, sets the time, place for the drama and stirs excitement and imagination. In this article, a deep analysis of language, imagery and rhythm are described used by Shakespeare in the prologue.
Language
The author uses different language styles of a poet to convey his message. Shakespeare uses punctuation keenly to create emphasis on some lines. Exclamation marks create emphasis that captures the attention of the reader and amplify the statement meant to relay the key information. Shakespeare uses it sparingly and to create an emotion that flows with the literary piece. “And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!”
Tenses, prologue is characterized by the use of present tense CITATION Jef12 \l 1033 (Brickle) “Are now confined two mighty monarchies..” to bring to life the reality and actual happening which the audience follows as live scenario unraveling right before their eyes, so that they can easily relate to the history, as being a part of it. It takes the audience on a trip into the past and momentarily assumes a role or a character in the past described by the poet.
Simile “Then should the warlike Harry, like himself...” the prologue has used this technique to show the similarity of the main actor and the character he exhibits. Shakespeare likens the main character to an event of war to show the iron fist of the King and the power he uses to conquer his enemies to create a kingdom and monarchies. Similes also help to tap into the creativity of the audience and their imagination CITATION Wil09 \l 1033 (Shakespeare).
Connotation, “Into an hour-glass: for the which supply.” The author, tends to shed more light into the meaning of the hour glass. The implicated meaning of the hourglass in the aforementioned line is collapsing history and past events into a short period rather than the actual time. He uses a connotation to bring out the more consequential meaning for the audience to interpret for themselves. It also results in some form of suspense and curiosity, when audience has different interpretation of the same event and gets to experience a different ...