English Written Commentary

Anne Hathaway by Carol Ann Duffy

The poem Anne Hathaway, written by Carol Ann Duffy in 19911, is a mlange of several
diverse elements. At heart, it is a reflection of the intimate relationship between William
Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, who is the speaker in this poem. Shakespeare and his
wife spent long periods of time apart; he went to London to work in the theaters whilst she
stayed behind in Stratford. When Shakespeares clock stopped ticking, the only thing he
bequeathed to Anne in his will was the second best bed in the house, which according to the
critics is recognized as a sign that the couple had become estranged. Moreover, it is speculated
that Shakespeare had great loves and muses, but Anne was not part of them. 2In this poem, Carol
Ann Duffy attempts to tackle the stereotypical assumptions about Anne Hathaway. She
reimagines the concept of the second best bed, not as an ironic demonstration of the marital
unhappiness and discontent, but as the divine place where the husband and wife experienced
their most romantic and intimate moments.
The poem is predominantly euphonic and it uses a combination of sexual and romantic imagery
that allows us to see that the relationship between them was both emotionally and physically
fulfilling, which reinforces the romantic and melancholic tone.
Duffy transforms the infamous second-best bed offered to Anne by Shakespeare into a magic
place where he creates a fantasy landscape3, where Anne and her husbands poetry and the love
for her become their one and only reality. His words convert into shooting stars which fell to
earth as kisses, which means that everybody can see and admire them, but she is the only one
who can both fully comprehend them, but also feel Shakespeare as a lover, rather than just as a
master of words. Duffy links the sex and the carnal pleasures of Shakespeare and Anne and his
poetry in the line a verb dancing in the centre of a noun in order to represent Anne as the only
muse that Shakespeare had4, which means that she was the ultimate inspiration for him to
produce great works. Moreover, she represents the passion of their sexual intercourse and the
process of making love as equal to the creative process of writing his divine poetry.
During this period in the history, it was a custom the best bed to be given to the guests. In the
poem she imagines that the guests in the next room are only dribbling their prose (back than
the prose was considered to be a at a lower rank than poetry), whereas Anne and Shakespeare
1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Ann_Duffy

http://www.thetutorpages.com/tutor-article/gcse-english/studying-anne-hathaway-by-carolann-duffy/2692

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travel into another dimension occupied only by the senses, played by touch, by scent, by taste,
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which are signs of the complete surrender of the lovers to each other and of their natural
(physical) and emotional love, as great as Shakespeares poetry.

Duffys choice to write this poem as a sonnet is due to the fact that the Shakespeares love poems
were sonnets, which suggests both homage to Shakespeares romantic sonnet and examine the
author from a different perspective. Linguistically speaking, the sonnet is rich with metaphors,
for example spinning world of the bed, or the lovers words as shooting star. With these
metaphors Duffy allows the reader to make a link between Shakespeares world and the truth
about their marriage. Another poetic device is the alliteration in living laughing love, which
lets the words to dance on the page, suggesting the sparkle of the poetic relationship in
comparison with the hollow dribbling of the prose by the guests. Furthermore, the author, in
order to highlight the passion and the active relationship between the couple, uses verbs such as
dancing , dive, dozed and dribbling, which show an activity that requires both mental
and physical activity.
It is important to notice that the sonnet is about love, similarly as most of the sonnets
Shakespeare wrote. Anne Hathaway is also about marriage where a couple creates their own
world, own reality, fulfilled with romance, world where they are not conforming to any social
expectation. Their relationship consists of mutual love and respect, where they retreat from the
rest of the world through poetry, a world which is represented by the second-best bed. The
significance that is given to the bed, can be truly understood only by Shakespeare and his wife.
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Another theme that Duffy describes through the lines is the loss of her husband and her
immense grief. Because of the speculations about Shakespeares treatment of Anne and the last
gift he bequeathed to her, one might expect that Anne Hathaway is going to be fulfilled with
anger towards Shakespeare, but instead Anne is only full of admiration and platonic love for her
husband. This point allows the reader to experience a different perspective of Shakespeares life,
which is not a philandering man who puts his superior writing skills above everything else.
In summary, the authors style epitomizes the sonnet. Anne Hathaway tells the story
about the notorious symbol of the second-best bed from Annes perspective. At the same time, it
describes the passionate relationship of the couple, as well as the complete and true love-both
passionate and platonic between Anne and Shakespeare and her respect and admiration for him,
as a poet and husband. The authors intent is to relate a very meaningful experience and to
inspire another perspective of William Shakespeares life.

http://www.thetutorpages.com/tutor-article/gcse-english/studying-anne-hathaway-by-carolann-duffy/2692
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http://www.thetutorpages.com/tutor-article/gcse-english/studying-anne-hathaway-by-carolann-duffy/2692

Above all, this poem shows an unheard story and an ignored perspective of the life of the famous
writer.
http://home.ku.edu.tr/~doregan/Writing/Cohesion.html
http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.33.htm
http://www.synonym.com/
http://www.chaparralpoets.org/devices.pdf
https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/words-phrases-good-essays.html