Richard II, the only play written wholly in verse, offers the loveliest poetry in this or any language. Henry IV Parts One and Two contain – if anything can be said to contain him – Jack Falstaff, the most limitless character in the canon, whom an awed W.H. Auden likened to Jesus. Henry V, that peerless disquisition on war and peace, shines an uncomfortably penetrating beam onto our national character, which leaves English audiences cheering patriotically even as they flinch. Taken together – and they are best when taken together – the four plays comprise the finest work on politics ever written, better than anything you’ll find in a library’s history or political science sections.
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