ANNE HATHAWAY

ANNE HATHAWAY
Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare‛s wife. He married her in 1582 and they
had three children, Susanna, the eldest, and twins, Hamnet and Judith.
Hamnet sadly died when he was twelve. Although Anne was older than
Shakespeare, she outlived him, and famously, he left her his ‘second best
bed‛ in his will. Shakespeare worked in London, but it is clear that he
made regular visits to his home in Stratford-on-Avon and both his house
and Anne Hathaway‛s cottage can still be seen.

The quotation which opens the poem is taken from

Shakespeare's will.

"Item I gyve unto my wief my second best bed..."

How do you think Duffy has interpreted this?

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 ANNE
ANNE HATHAWAY
HATHAWAY
Read the poem written as
a piece of prose. • whether you think
there should be any STRUCTURE
Where would you put the spaces between lines or
line breaks and why? should it be one
continuous stanza
Think about:
• rhythm Annotate your poem with
• ending lines with words the reasons for your
you want to emphasise decisions.
• whether you think the
length of the lines should Now read Duffy's poem
be regular or irregular and compare her choices
with yours.

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The bed we loved in was a spinning world of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas where he
would dive for pearls. My lover‛s words were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses 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.
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 - I hold him in the casket of my widow‛s head as
held me upon that next best bed.

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The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
where he would dive for pearls. My lover‛s words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
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. 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 -
I hold him in the casket of my widow‛s head
as held me upon that next best bed.

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ANNE
ANNE HATHAWAY
HATHAWAY
Read the poem written out as
a piece of prose.

Write down your first

Include ideas about: response.
the language
choice of particular
words
the five senses
poetic techniques e.g. LANGUAGE
alliteration
connection to the
epigraph

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ANNE
ANNE HATHAWAY
HATHAWAY

FORM

How has Duffy used the form

of the sonnet to give Ann
Hathaway a voice?

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 ANNE HATHAWAY
ANNE HATHAWAY

Highlight all the similes and metaphors. Use two different colours.

IMAGERY
In your own words, comment on the contribution each makes to
meaning and effect of the poem.

What do the metaphors and similes reveal about Carol Ann Duffy's
depiction of Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway and their relationship?

Write a paragraph analysing the ways in which poetry, writing and

language is:
• the medium of communication
• the subject of the poem
• a way of celebrating love
• a metaphor for sex

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The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
where he would dive for pearls. My lover‛s words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
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. 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 -
I hold him in the casket of my widow‛s head
as held me upon that next best bed.

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 ANNE HATHAWAY
ANNE HATHAWAY

Highlight all the similes and metaphors. Use two different colours.

IMAGERY
In your own words, comment on the contribution each makes to
meaning and effect of the poem.

What do the metaphors and similes reveal about Carol Ann Duffy's
depiction of Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway and their relationship?

Write a paragraph analysing the ways in which poetry, writing and

language is:
• the medium of communication
• the subject of the poem
• a way of celebrating love
• a metaphor for sex

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 ANNE HATHAWAY
ANNE HATHAWAY
LOOKING OUTWARDS AGAIN

'Little Red-Cap' and 'Eurydice' also use poetry, and

language of creation as a metaphor for a relationship
between a man and a woman.

Choose two quotations from these poems illustrating the

ways in which Duffy uses language and poetry to explore
this relationship. Briefly analyse the effect.

Do the same for 'Anne Hathaway'.

Compare the contribution the technique makes to the

meaning, tone and effect of each poem.

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 ANNE HATHAWAY
ANNE HATHAWAY
VOICE AND AUDIENCE
The poems are 'dramatic monologues'.
'Monologue' implies a listener.
It is not obvious who the listener is in this poem.
Who do you think is the audience for this poem?
for Ann Hathaway herself?
for Shakespeare?
for the reader?

THE FIVE SENSES

Make a poster of the five senses.

Under each sense, write short quotations from 'Anne
Hathaway' What do you notice?

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 ANNE HATHAWAY
ANNE HATHAWAY
This is one of the most
celebratory poems in the
collection, where Duffy
Sonnet XVIII  imagines Shakespeare as
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? an artist both in words
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: and in lovemaking; where
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, the two are intimately
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: woven together so that
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, making love through
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; words and language is
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
brought vividly to life.
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade She also uses Shakespeare’s
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; technique of comparing
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, love, or a lover, to
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: something greater in time
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, or the natural world, and
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
finishing on a note of
William Shakespeare
remembrance. Compare
Shakespeare’s famous
sonnet No. 18

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Duffy has said that ‘Anne Hathaway‛ is one of her favourite poems.

How far do you feel that this poem is typical of the way Duffy presents
relationships between men and women in the collection as a whole? ( You may
refer to three poems in detail or range more widely through the collection.)

In your answer you should consider form, structure and language, as well as
subject matter.

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