“Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed.” - William Shakespeare
The sonnet “Anne Hathaway '' by Carol Ann Duffy begins with what is called an epigraph, taken from the will of the English poet William Shakespeare. This epigraph provides a clue at what the sonnet is going to be about, in this case, it hints to the audience that this poem will revolve around Anne Hathaway and the bed she shared with her husband. Additionally, the epigraph sets the foundation for the tone of the poem; being reminiscent, isolating, romantic, and preconceptually dismissive on Shakespeare’s part to his wife (this characteristic reverses following the epigraph).
With the tones demonstrated, this epigraph ultimately helps highlight the themes of love, intimacy and isolation. Duffy perfectly expresses love in one line when she writes, “[m]y lover’s words were shooting stars which fell to the earth as kisses.” Comparing Anne Hathaway’s loving words to shooting stars which manifested as kisses on her lips, was an excellent strategy she used to provide a romantic theme in this poem. Similarly, Duffy expressed the theme of intimacy in another line stating, “I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head...”. By doing this, Duffy highlights Anne Hathaway’s perpetual reminiscence of Shakespeare, underscoring the theme of isolation present in the sonnet.
Given the evidence provided above, it is clear that the epigraph used in the beginning of the sonnet acts as a foundation for the themes of love, intimacy, and isolation which are communicated throughout the rest of the poem.
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