Context
This poem is written in the persona of Shakespeare’s widow when he dies. The main point of the poem is that the idea that Shakespeare leaves his second best bed to his wife is no offensive act but instead quite kind. In Tudor times the best bed was always reserved for visitors so the bed which Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway spent most of their married life in was the second best one, so that will contain the fondest memories about him for his widow.
Literary Features
• The poem is written in iambic pentameter, something which is frequently associated with Shakespeare’s writing. The fact that his “wife” also speaks in iambic pentameter is an acknowledgement of her link to him through life and now in death.
• The tone of the poem is fairly cheerful considering that Anne has recently been made a widow as she seems to relish the good memories spent together in their bed, she feels no sorrow in the poem.
• “My living laughing love” is a pattern of three and alliteration and exaggerates Shakespeare’s importance.
• Metaphors are used to express the magic of their lovemaking in lines 2-4.
• The imagery in lines 5-10 relates to Shakespeare’s career as a writer.
• The last two lines form a rhyming couplet as would those from a sonnet.
Form
There are no stanzas in this poem. Instead it is written like a section from one of Shakespeare’s plays complete with the usual full stops and associated punctuation. However the five full stops divide the poem into five sections.
Poem Analysis
The first section could be a reference to the stories that Shakespeare told her and how he may’ve charmed her in her youth. The first part is also a reference to the different scenes in Shakespeare’s plays.
In the second section Duffy uses [the thing when she says something is something else when it is not] and personification of shooting stars-possibly. Duffy then names five literary features as metaphors for herself. This is appropriate as it is...