Anne Hathaway
By Carol Anne Duffy
Anne Hathaway – Historical Background
• Anne Hathaway (1555/56 – 6 August 1623) was the
wife of William Shakespeare – English poet,
playwright and actor.
• She was nine years older than her husband, who
married her when she was pregnant with their first
child.
• They spent long periods of time apart; he went to
London to work in the theatres whilst she stayed
behind in Stratford upon Avon.
• Hathaway outlived her husband by seven years.
Duffy’s poem makes reference to a well known
excerpt from Shakespeare’s will:
“Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed…”
• Many scholars have seen this as confirmation that
the couple had become estranged, and that this
parting gift was meant to be a snub on Shakespeare’s
part.
• However, Duffy’s poem takes a different attitude,
using the bed as a focus through which to explore
the romantic and intimate moments the couple
shared.
This might be Anne Hathaway
(but it probably isn’t).
The Sonnet
In many ways “Anne Hathaway” adopts the traditional poetic form
known as the sonnet.
A sonnet is a type of English poem which is clearly identified by
the following characteristics:
• It usually focuses on the theme of love;
• It usually adheres to the following structure:
– It is fourteen lines long;
– These lines consist of 3 quatrains (groups of four lines)
followed by a rhyming couplet (pair of lines that rhyme);
– It has a regular rhyme scheme;
Shakespeare favoured ABAB CDCD EFEF GG;
– Each line is written in iambic pentameter.
Beyond his plays, Shakespeare is perhaps best known for writing
sonnets, having produced 154 of them in his lifetime.
An Example: Shakespearean Sonnet 12
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls ensilvered o’er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard:
Then of thy beauty do I question make
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake,
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'gainst time’s scythe can make defence
Save breed to brave him when he takes thee hence.
“Anne Hathaway” and the Sonnet Form
1. In what ways does “Anne Hathaway” adhere to
the conventional structure of a sonnet?
2. a) What does the poem reveal about
Hathaway’s feelings for Shakespeare?
b) How is this made clear?
3. What do you not understand about the poem?
“Anne Hathaway” – Annotation (1)
The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, cliff-tops, seas
where he would dive for pearls. My lover’s words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips;
“Anne Hathaway” – Annotation (2)
on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme
to his, now echo, assonance; his touch
a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.
Some nights I dreamed he’d written me, the bed
a page beneath his writer’s hands.
“Anne Hathaway” – Annotation (3)
a page beneath his writer’s hands. Romance
and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste.
In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on,
dribbling their prose. My living laughing love –
“Anne Hathaway” – Annotation (4)
I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head
as he held me upon that next best bed.