Anne Hathaway Analysis

Sonnet, Dramatic monologueDuffy's "Anne Hathaway" is a sonnet spoken in the voice of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife. Because Duffy imagines the speaker as one distinct character, we can call thi...

Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare's wife. Although we don't know too much about her, we do know what Shakespeare left for her in his will: their second best bed. While a lot of Shakespeare scholars ass...

While the setting of "Anne Hathaway" is not specified, we like to imagine that Anne is actually speaking to us from that second best bed that we've heard so much about. The bed is probably in Strat...

This sonnet is pretty quiet. There are a lot of s sounds (in words like kisses, stars, and softer), and we can almost picture Anne whispering the poem to us across a dark and quiet room; or, even b...

The poem "Anne Hathaway" is spoken by, that's right, Anne Hathaway. Using the speaker's name as the title lets us know right away that Carol Ann Duffy, the poet, is not the one speaking. Instead, s...

Carol Ann Duffy is one of those writers who's a little obsessed with the fact that she's a writer. She just loves writing about writing (and sometimes even writing about writing about writing). Wri...

(3) Base CampThis poem can be a little tricky if you don't know too much about Anne Hathaway or Shakespeare. But hey, we at Shmoop are here to help! Read what we've got to say about the historical...

When Anne and Shakespeare got married, she was pregnant (shotgun wedding, anyone?). She was also significantly older than him: she was 26, and he was just 18. Scandalous! (Source.)Anne and Shakespe...

PG-13Some of the sexual references may go over the head of the little ones in the room, but we can't help but discern a lot of sexual metaphors and innuendos in this poem. They're not right there o...

Historical ReferencesAnne HathawayWilliam Shakespeare