Epigraph Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed ..." Extract from William Shakespeare's will The poem begins with this actual extract from Shakespeare's will. Although many critics consider this legacy an insult to Hathaway, Duffy uses it as the catalyst for the poem and imbues the bed with a much more magical and sensual meaning. First quatrain bed we loved in was a spinning world “The of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas where we would dive for pearls. My lover’s words were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses" Immediately the reader is transported to a magical landscape filled with metaphor, especially appropriate that Shakespeare himself was the master of this technique. The bed is a suggesting their love made Anne dizzy and “spinning was all encompassing. Interestingly, despite bearing him three children, the persona of Anne created by Duffy makes no reference to this aspect of her marriage focusing on their relationship as lovers rather than as parents. The castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas” recalls the setting of “forests, some of Shakespeare’s more famous works such as Macbeth, Hamlet and The Tempest, suggesting a link between these iconic works of literature and the poetry which together are echoes of the excitement that took place in this bed. In their lovemaking, the couple found something precious and valuable, as implied by the in line three. This intimate, sensual tone is “pearls” continued in the metaphor comparing her lover’s words to “shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses.” Hathaway was seduced by her lover’s language and poetry, which literally seems to fall from the heavens as though a gift from the gods before transforming into the physical touch of a kiss.
Epigraph Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed ..." Extract from William Shakespeare's will The poem begins with this actual extract from Shakespeare's will. Although many critics consider this legacy an insult to Hathaway, Duffy uses it as the catalyst for the poem and imbues the bed with a much more magical and sensual meaning. First quatrain “The bed we loved in was a spinning world of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas where we would dive for pearls. My lover’s words were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses" Immediately the reader is transported to a magical landscape filled with metaphor, especially appropriate that Shakespeare himself was the master of this technique. The bed is a “spinning suggesting their love made Anne dizzy and was all encompassing. Interestingly, despite bearing him three children, the persona of Anne created by Duffy makes no reference to this aspect of her marriage focusing on their relationship as lovers rather than as parents. The “forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas” recalls the setting of some of Shakespeare’s more famous works such as Macbeth, Hamlet and The Tempest, suggesting a link between these iconic works of literature and the poetry which together are echoes of the excitement that took place in this bed. In their lovemaking, the couple found something precious and valuable, as implied by the “pearls” in line three. This intimate, sensual tone is continued in the metaphor comparing her lover’s words to “shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses.” Hathaway was seduced by her lover’s language and poetry, which literally seems to fall from the heavens as though a gift from the gods before transforming into the physical touch of a kiss.
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