6 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY The Bard and the Bulldog: How Shakespeare's Henry V Influenced the Leadership Rhetoric of Winston Churchill Brent Taylor, Ph.D., D.Min. Dr. Brent Taylor (Leadership Studies, '24) serves as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church at The Fields in Carrollton, Texas. William Shakespeare might be labeled a “man of many words.” The plays, poems, and sonnets penned by the writer have been analyzed and over-analyzed down to the smallest jot and tittle. The Bard of Stratford left us with 884,647 words spread over 118,406 lines, including 138,198 commas, 15,785 question marks, and 36,794 colons. Words like “dunghill” are mentioned ten times, “bloody” 226 times, “hath” 2,069 times, and “has” 409 times. Within all those lines, there are 31,959 speeches of various lengths.1 Shakespeare was a man of many words and infinitely more analysis. In addition, no writer of the English language holds more acclaim for influence upon generations of both scholars and the uneducated. His phrases and quips have become a regular part of the common vernacular. “The better part of valor is discretion” (Henry IV, Part 1, V.iv.), “all that glitters is not gold” (The Merchant of Venice, II.vii.), and “all the world’s a stage” (As You Like It, II.vii.) are lines penned by Shakespeare that have become as common as modern slang like “LOL” and calling someone “The GOAT.” The writings of Shakespeare are not only deep in their content but also broad in their breadth of influence. Shakespeare’s words have influenced many leaders over history, but maybe none so much as Winston Churchill. Famed newsman Edward R. Murrow, in a radio broadcast on November 30, 1954, said Churchill “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.”2 Churchill was
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