Here is a line-by-line modern paraphrase of the Chorus’s monologue from Henry V, Act III:

Original: Thus with imagin’d wing our swift scene flies
Modern: And so, carried on the wings of your imagination, our story rushes forward —

Original: In motion of no less celerity
Modern: Moving at a speed no less swift

Original: Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen
Modern: Than thought itself. Picture in your mind that you have witnessed

Original: The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
Modern: The perfectly prepared king standing at the docks at Southampton —

Original: Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
Modern: Boarding his ships in all his royal glory, while his magnificent fleet —

Original: With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning:
Modern: Its colorful silk banners waving in the morning breeze of the rising sun —

Original: Play with your fancies, and in them behold
Modern: Let your imagination run free, and in your mind’s eye, see

Original: Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Modern: Young sailors scrambling up the thick rope rigging of the ships —

Original: Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
Modern: Hear the sharp blast of the bosun’s whistle cutting through

Original: To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,
Modern: All the noise and chaos on deck. Now watch the great woven sails

Original: Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Modern: Caught and pushed forward by the unseen, steady wind —

Original: Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow’d sea,
Modern: Pulling those massive hulls through the churning, plowed-up sea —

Original: Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
Modern: Pushing boldly through the towering waves. Oh, just imagine —

Original: You stand upon the ravage and behold
Modern: That you are standing on the shore, watching

Original: A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
Modern: What looks like a floating city, rising and falling on the restless waves —

Original: For so appears this fleet majestical,
Modern: Because that is exactly what this magnificent fleet looks like

Original: Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow:
Modern: As it sails straight and true toward Harfleur. Follow them, follow them!

Original: Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,
Modern: Lock your imagination onto the backs of these warships —

Original: And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Modern: And leave England behind — quiet as the dead of midnight —

Original: Guarded with grandsires, babies and old women,
Modern: Left in the care of only grandfathers, infants, and old women —

Original: Either past or not arrived to pith and puissance;
Modern: Those who are either too old or not yet old enough to have any real strength or power.

Original: For who is he, whose chin is but enrich’d
Modern: Because really, what young man — even one whose face is only just beginning

Original: With one appearing hair, that will not follow
Modern: To sprout its very first whisker — would not want to follow

Original: These cull’d and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
Modern: These hand-picked, finest-of-the-finest warriors to France?

Original: Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;
Modern: Push your imagination further — now picture a siege!

Original: Behold the ordnance on their carriages,
Modern: See the great cannons mounted on their wheeled carriages —

Original: With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Modern: Their deadly barrels aimed and gaping open at the surrounded walls of Harfleur.

Original: Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;
Modern: Now imagine that a messenger from the French king has returned —

Original: Tells Harry that the king doth offer him
Modern: And tells King Harry that the French king is willing to offer him

Original: Katharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry,
Modern: His daughter Katherine as a bride, and as part of her dowry —

Original: Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
Modern: A few small, worthless territories that aren’t worth much at all.

Original: The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
Modern: Harry is not impressed by the offer — and so a quick-handed gunner

Original: With linstock now the devilish cannon touches,
Modern: Touches the slow-burning match to the terrifying cannon —

Original: And down goes all before them. Still be kind,
Modern: And everything in their path is blown away. Please, continue to be generous with us —

Original: And eke out our performance with your mind.
Modern: And fill in the gaps of our humble performance with the power of your own imagination.

Henry V follows the young English king as he transforms from the wayward Prince Hal into a decisive military leader. The play opens with Henry’s court debating his claim to the French throne through his great-great-grandmother’s lineage. When the French Dauphin mockingly sends Henry tennis balls as a gift, suggesting he should stick to games rather than warfare, Henry uses this insult as justification to invade France. He sentences three conspirators - Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey - to death for plotting against his life, then sets sail for France with his army.

The English forces land in France and lay siege to Harfleur, which Henry captures after his famous “Once more unto the breach” speech. However, his army is weakened by disease and casualties. Meanwhile, we follow the tavern companions from Henry’s youth - Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, and Hostess Quickly, who reports the death of Falstaff. The English army, vastly outnumbered, faces the French at Agincourt. On the eve of battle, Henry disguises himself and walks among his soldiers to gauge their morale, engaging in philosophical discussions about kingship and responsibility.

The Battle of Agincourt proves to be a decisive English victory despite overwhelming French numerical superiority. Henry orders the killing of French prisoners when he believes the French are regrouping, and becomes enraged when he discovers French forces have killed the English boys guarding the baggage train. The English suffer minimal casualties while French losses are enormous. The play concludes with Henry’s courtship of Princess Katherine of France, conducted partly in broken French and English. Their marriage seals the Treaty of Troyes, which names Henry as heir to the French throne, though the Chorus epilogue reminds the audience that Henry’s son would later lose these French territories.