ANNE HATHAWAY
COMPLETE SUMMARY
1
,Anne Hathaway Summary
The title of this poem is crucial because it lets us know that the poem is spoken by
Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. The epigraph, then, is a little piece of history: it's from
Shakespeare's will, and tells us that the only item that he left for his wife in his will was their
"second best bed." Score.
Anne Hathaway begins the poem by describing that second best bed mentioned the
epigraph. She imagines that the bed is a "spinning world," filled with fanciful and beautiful
things, like castles and clifftops. She describes Shakespeare's words as shooting stars, and
then compares her and her husband's bodies to a whole bunch of poetic words like rhymes
and echoes. And just to make it a little weirder, she tells us that she sometimes dreamed
that he had written her, the same way he had written his plays. They had real romance and
drama, though.
Finally, to clear things up, Anne says that their guests slept in their best bed, while she and
her husband used second best one. (How generous.) Now, her husband lives on in her
memory: she holds him in her mind, the same way he held her on their second best bed.
Aw.
Title Summary
Title
Anne Hathaway
• The title is pretty important in this poem: it tells us that Anne Hathaway,
Shakespeare's wife, is the speaker. For more context on Anne Hathaway, check out
our discussion in "In a Nutshell."
Epigraph Summary
Epigraph
'Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed ...'
(from Shakespeare's will)
• The epigraph is the key to understanding this poem. It's actually a line from
Shakespeare's will (how cool is that?). It turns out the only thing he has left for his
wife is their second best bed. This may seem like a major insult (couldn't
Shakespeare have left her some cash, or maybe even their best bed?), but the poem
aims to change all that. For more context on the will and its interpretations, check
out what we have to say in "In a Nutshell."
2
, Lines 1-7 Summary
Lines 1-3
The bed we loved in was a spinning world
Of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
Where he would dive for pearls […]
• Duffy gets right into here, having the speaker, Anne Hathaway, address the issue of
the bed immediately. Instead of talking about "the second best bed," Anne refers to
it as "the bed we loved in." This undoes our assumptions about Shakespeare's will
very quickly. It may be second best, but this bed has seen a lot of love.
• So, what do we know about this bed? Well, Anne describes it as "a spinning world"
that's filled with all sorts of beautiful and romantic things – "forests, castles,
torchlight, clifftops, seas."
• Wow, sounds like quite a bed. The important thing to know about this bed is that it's
not literally piled high with these too-big-for-a-bed things. Anne is speaking
metaphorically; her experiences in bed are so wonderful that she feels as if it's filled
with these beautiful sights. The forests and clifftops may be imaginary, but they feel
real emotionally.
• So, what's with the deep sea diving? Apparently Anne imagines that Shakespeare
went diving for pearls in bed. Now, this could just be an extension of the previous
fanciful metaphors, but it could also be a metaphor for something more sexual.
Lines 3-5
[…] My lover's words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips; […]
• Anne continues being super-romantic here with a lovely double metaphor. First, her
husband's words are described as shooting stars. Then, these same shooting stars
(which are metaphors to begin with) fall to earth like kisses. This is some complex
poetic language!
• Is it possible that Anne might be competing with her dead husband here? She's
talking about Shakespeare's words (which we all know are pretty amazing), but, in
the meantime, she does some pretty fancy word footwork of her own. It seems that
Shakespeare isn't the only one in the family with a talent for words.
• While we're at it, let's take a second to think a little more about Shakespeare. You
might remember him best for his plays, but he's also a sonnet guy. Actually, he wrote
an extended sequence of sonnets (154 in all). A sonnet is a 14-line poem, often
about big themes (and we really mean big themes: Shakespeare's sonnets take on
issues such as love, death, immortality, and the power of writing).
3
COMPLETE SUMMARY
1
,Anne Hathaway Summary
The title of this poem is crucial because it lets us know that the poem is spoken by
Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. The epigraph, then, is a little piece of history: it's from
Shakespeare's will, and tells us that the only item that he left for his wife in his will was their
"second best bed." Score.
Anne Hathaway begins the poem by describing that second best bed mentioned the
epigraph. She imagines that the bed is a "spinning world," filled with fanciful and beautiful
things, like castles and clifftops. She describes Shakespeare's words as shooting stars, and
then compares her and her husband's bodies to a whole bunch of poetic words like rhymes
and echoes. And just to make it a little weirder, she tells us that she sometimes dreamed
that he had written her, the same way he had written his plays. They had real romance and
drama, though.
Finally, to clear things up, Anne says that their guests slept in their best bed, while she and
her husband used second best one. (How generous.) Now, her husband lives on in her
memory: she holds him in her mind, the same way he held her on their second best bed.
Aw.
Title Summary
Title
Anne Hathaway
• The title is pretty important in this poem: it tells us that Anne Hathaway,
Shakespeare's wife, is the speaker. For more context on Anne Hathaway, check out
our discussion in "In a Nutshell."
Epigraph Summary
Epigraph
'Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed ...'
(from Shakespeare's will)
• The epigraph is the key to understanding this poem. It's actually a line from
Shakespeare's will (how cool is that?). It turns out the only thing he has left for his
wife is their second best bed. This may seem like a major insult (couldn't
Shakespeare have left her some cash, or maybe even their best bed?), but the poem
aims to change all that. For more context on the will and its interpretations, check
out what we have to say in "In a Nutshell."
2
, Lines 1-7 Summary
Lines 1-3
The bed we loved in was a spinning world
Of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
Where he would dive for pearls […]
• Duffy gets right into here, having the speaker, Anne Hathaway, address the issue of
the bed immediately. Instead of talking about "the second best bed," Anne refers to
it as "the bed we loved in." This undoes our assumptions about Shakespeare's will
very quickly. It may be second best, but this bed has seen a lot of love.
• So, what do we know about this bed? Well, Anne describes it as "a spinning world"
that's filled with all sorts of beautiful and romantic things – "forests, castles,
torchlight, clifftops, seas."
• Wow, sounds like quite a bed. The important thing to know about this bed is that it's
not literally piled high with these too-big-for-a-bed things. Anne is speaking
metaphorically; her experiences in bed are so wonderful that she feels as if it's filled
with these beautiful sights. The forests and clifftops may be imaginary, but they feel
real emotionally.
• So, what's with the deep sea diving? Apparently Anne imagines that Shakespeare
went diving for pearls in bed. Now, this could just be an extension of the previous
fanciful metaphors, but it could also be a metaphor for something more sexual.
Lines 3-5
[…] My lover's words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips; […]
• Anne continues being super-romantic here with a lovely double metaphor. First, her
husband's words are described as shooting stars. Then, these same shooting stars
(which are metaphors to begin with) fall to earth like kisses. This is some complex
poetic language!
• Is it possible that Anne might be competing with her dead husband here? She's
talking about Shakespeare's words (which we all know are pretty amazing), but, in
the meantime, she does some pretty fancy word footwork of her own. It seems that
Shakespeare isn't the only one in the family with a talent for words.
• While we're at it, let's take a second to think a little more about Shakespeare. You
might remember him best for his plays, but he's also a sonnet guy. Actually, he wrote
an extended sequence of sonnets (154 in all). A sonnet is a 14-line poem, often
about big themes (and we really mean big themes: Shakespeare's sonnets take on
issues such as love, death, immortality, and the power of writing).
3
