Existing comment:
The Chorus at the start of Henry V laments the fact that vast, sprawling events like the battle of Agincourt must shrink into the "wooden O" of an outdoor playhouse. Henry V was probably first performed at the Curtain in the spring of 1599, a few months before the Globe opened. If so, the "wooden O" originally referred to the Curtain. But the phrase later worked just as well at the Globe.
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: 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?
-- Henry V |