The first sentence of Anne Hathaway is nothing like the first stanza in Havisham; it is filled with excitement and romance. ‘The bed we loved in…he would dive for pearls.’ The bed is a microcosm to Anne Hathaway, and all her exhilarating fantasies and dreams are fulfilled here. The bed as a microcosm makes it seem as though when Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare are together, there is no need for anything or anywhere else. The bed is symbolic of the romance between Hathaway and Shakespeare. Already we can see that there is a lot of love in this relationship, unlike the relationship in the other poem Havisham. The different locations that are listed are all romantic places and illustrate the diversity of romance in the relationship. From this opening sentence, we quickly build up an image of intimate love and a very close relationship, much unlike the picture we see from Havisham, in which the relationship is full of rage and hatred.
The second stanza of Havisham is full of sadness, and the speaker has moved from a position of total fury and resentment into a state of depression; this stanza brings in the element of decay into the emotional, and physical, state of Miss Havisham and her possessions. ‘Spinster. I stink…who did this to me?’ The dramatic start once more draws the reader’s attention to the poem, and the word ‘spinster’ itself makes Miss Havisham incomplete, and is without someone to love. The word ‘stink’ starts to create the element of decay, as if her misery is causing her to rot away. We can see she is trapped in a loss of vitality and energy when she says: ‘Whole days in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall,’ as she her mind and vision is distorted by the grief of her situation. ‘The dress yellowing,’ this is more evidence for decay, as the wedding dress, which she was to be married in, is starting to decay as well. ‘The slewed mirror,’ the mirror is reflecting different images, as if the mirror has also been distorted by grief. The final clause, which tails onto the next stanza, tells us that Miss Havisham feels strongly as the victim. This stanza gives us an impression of how filled her life is with misery and pain, and the contrast between the speakers of each poem becomes greater and greater; one who is devastated with grief and despises the man whom she loved, the other who is over the moon with joy and is devoted to the man she loves.
The second sentence in the poem Anne Hathaway is filled with more romance and happiness, and the speaker, Anne Hathaway, uses incorporates grammar into a type of word play, as some form of sexual communication with William Shakespeare. ‘My lover’s words…as kisses on these lips,’ once again the idea of a microcosm is used, and the metaphors ‘of shooting stars which fell to earth’ make their love seem most amazing. ‘My body…now echo, assonance,’ this way of incorporating grammatical words into the sentence shows the compatibility between the two lovers, and could also be thought of as a way to entice her lover. This world play is carried on within the poem reinforce the idea of compatibility between Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare, as well as her methods of arousing Shakespeare, with him being a playwright. Carol Ann Duffy puts in various senses for us to get a better feel for the passion in this relationship. As we can see, the relationship between Hathaway and Shakespeare is vividly strong and truly passionate, whereas the relationship between Miss Havisham and Compeyson has decayed away and is the complete contrary to the former relationship.
The third stanza of the poem Havisham begins with more feeling of decay and continues with a dream or recollection that the speaker has. This stanza also brings in the erotic element, as Miss Havisham, before she was left at the altar, was in deep and true love with this man, Compeyson. ‘Puce curses…suddenly bit awake,’ as we can see, her curses have lost all meaning and are now just sounds, and are no longer actual words, as they have decayed also. It then appears that the speaker has a dream, in which she and her lover are together in bed, with him over her; as he is laying over her, he is some what oppressive to her, and indeed emotionally, she has been afflicted by his presence in her mind. ‘My fluent tongue,’ this may show that she was in love with him very deeply, as if she knew his body with ease. ‘I suddenly bite awake,’ the biting is a manic or frightening action, which shows her regret and misery for this dream, as she now despises him and wants nothing to do with him. Indeed, decay is once again a part in this stanza, as it is throughout the poem, and her hatred is brought up again after the erotic dream.
The following few lines in the poem Anne Hathaway maintain the word play of grammar and literary terms. This word play shows the compatibility of the couple and the love that Anne Hathaway has for Shakespeare. ‘Some nights, I dreamed…dribbling their prose,’ the speaker feels that her bed the ‘second best’ is the more thrilling and exhilarating bed, the bed of poetry and drama, whereas the bed of the guests is for prose and is the more dull and monotonous bed. ‘I dreamed he’d written me,’ as if it is some erotic fantasy of Hathaway’s, she dreams that she is the exciting poetry and drama that Shakespeare is most famous for. The ‘second best’ bed upon which Shakespeare and Hathaway slept is described as a page, as if it is Shakespeare’s working place, a stage for the flight of their imagination. ‘Romance and drama…by taste,’ the bed is a medium of drama and is a delight of their senses; whatever stimulating emotions they feel, it is ‘acted out’ on this second best bed. ‘In the other bed…dribbling their prose,’ as we can see Carol Ann Duffy, through the speaker’s voice of Anne Hathaway, portrays the ‘better’ bed as the bed for prose, where Shakespeare would be more serious, and would write his less electrifying, ‘everyday’ pieces of prose. From these few sentences, we understand more about how the speaker feels about her second best bed, as a stage for drama and romance, and how Anne Hathaway feels about the bed of the guests as being for prose and a mundane bed. The connections between Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare become more and more romantic and are filled with a lot of enlivening emotions, and so are even more different to the connections between Miss Havisham and Compeyson, a relationship which has such little sign of romance and no sign at all of exhilarating feelings.
The final stanza of the poem Havisham is overflowing with scorn and rage, and the character of Miss Havisham reaches a manic view. ‘Love’s hate…that b-b-b-breaks,’ there are many strong verbs in this stanza, and these build up the image of anger and terror. ‘A red balloon…,’ the red balloon symbolizes being fragile, and the bursting of this balloon, which is her being left at the altar, is like a sting into the emotions and character of Miss Havisham. ‘Bang. I stabbed at a wedding cake,’ this is to show her frightening and manic behaviour, all due to the emotional breakdown of her wedding day. ‘Give me…slow honeymoon,’ this portrays a malicious quality in her character, as if she has become evil herself now. In the final sentence, the idea of decay is brought back when the speech itself breaks down in the ultimate word. This stanza clearly shows the malice of Miss Havisham and how frightening she can be.
The closing sentence of the poem Anne Hathaway states: ‘My living laughing love…that next best bed.’ The alliteration at the beginning of the ‘l’ sound creates energy in the poem. The last two lines are reciprocals of each other, as at first it is Shakespeare who holds Hathaway in their bed, but then it is Hathaway who holds Shakespeare in the precious casket. Although the two are separated, by death, there seems to be no sadness in the sentence, and possibly because the love they shared when they were both alive still lives on inside them, as their love was so remarkable.
From this analysis, we can see that the two relationships depicted in the two poems are extremely different; one is packed with misery and anger, and the speaker is manic and also in a state of decay, the other is full of love and romance, and the speaker is joyous of the exciting relationship that she is so fortunate to be part of.
