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I quite agree. That a 16th-century fellow who spoke a vernacular most modern English-speakers - well, I for one - wouldn't even understand could present human drama in terms that are still relevant argues real genius.

I have, however, once heard a sound I shall never forget - a young classmate intoning "O for a Muse o' fahr, what would ascend da brahtest heaven o' invention..." I swear it wasn't me.

Worth giving the Bard a longer leash, I think:

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, 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?