Exploring Literary Themes Through Forgotten Women in Famous Men's Lives
The poems "Anne Hathaway" and "King Midas" shed light on the overlooked women behind well-known men - Shakespeare and the mythological King Midas. Delve into themes of passion, love, and remembrance as these women reflect on their relationships posthumously, with a reflective and sensual tone. Various literary devices like metaphor, personification, and alliteration are skillfully employed to illustrate the depth of emotions and connections shared.
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Well known men represented through the forgotten women in their lives. Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare s wife and the poem focuses on Hathaway reflecting on their relationship after he has died. King Midas was a greedy, mythological king who was granted a wish whereby everything he touched turned to gold. This poem focuses on the effect it has on their relationship.
Read the two poems. Highlight use of the following features: Simile Metaphor Personification Alliteration Onomatopoeia Word choice showing passion Use of sentence structure for a particular reason What is each poem about? What are the main themes of each poem? What is the tone of each poem? (Using quotes)
Anne Hathaway Reflecting on her love for her husband after he has died. Theme: passion, love, remembrance. Tone: reflective, sensual. Shakespeare is famous for writing 154 sonnets; a form of poetry. This poem is also written in a sonnet form, with 14 lines, made up of 3 quatrains (4 lines) and 1 rhyming couplet. Enjambment - to show how free their love was, as well as to place emphasis on important words or phrases. The entire poem is a metaphor comparing the couple s love making to the process poetic creativity.
'Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed ...' (from Shakespeare's will) First line is taken from Shakespeare s will. Although it seems odd, in the poem it says the best bed was for their guests and the second best bed was theirs. After everything we re shown about their relationship; this is his last romantic gesture.
Their love/her happiness made her dizzy Places Shakespeare wrote about. Magical places of stories. They re cut off in their own world. 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 Pearls precious/valuable, Like their love. Calling him her lover demonstrates importance of physical side of their relationship. Metaphor. She was seduced by his language/words.
Shows how in tune they are with each other; they echo. on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme to his, now echo, assonance; his touch a verb dancing in the centre of a noun. Some nights, I dreamed he'd written me, the bed Extends the language metaphor. Compares their having sex to something poetic. It is only through his eyes and imagination that she feels fully alive.
The bed compared to a blank piece of paper with what happens up to his imagination. Bed represents their relationship. Sensory imagery a page beneath his writer's hands. Romance and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste. In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on, dribbling their prose. My living laughing love - Longer pieces of writing boring in comparison to poetry. Their relationship dull in comparison. Upbeat alliteration compared to the dull D and P sound of dozed, dribbling and prose. The dash separates the description from the reality that he is dead.
Somewhere to keep valuables and protect them. In the same way that she felt with her husband in their bed. Their love is now only in her head; a memory. I hold him in the casket of my widow's head as he held me upon that next best bed. Rhyming couplet.
Mrs Midas - written from the viewpoint of the wife of the mythological King Midas. King Midas was granted a wish by the god Dionysus whereby everything he touched would turn to gold. A wide range of emotions is expressed through the persona of Mrs Midas as she separates herself from her husband and his selfish actions. She leaves him and reflects the loss of their physical relationship and the chance to have a baby with her husband.
Themes Greed damaging effects on the relationship and the isolation it causes. Consequences of actions pay the price for not thinking the wish through. Relationships.
Form and structure. Form: dramatic monologue 11 stanzas Irregular line length reflecting the chaos of the situation. Stanza 1 -6 deals with discovering Midas power and the panic it causes. Stanzas 7 -11 deal with the implications on their relationship/future. Last line regret at loss of physical contact.
Typical domestic scene. It was late September. I'd just poured a glass of wine, begun to unwind, while the vegetables cooked. The kitchen filled with the smell of itself, relaxed, its steamy breath gently blanching the windows. So I opened one, then with my fingers wiped the other's glass like a brow. He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig. Personification. Puts it down to not being able to see properly. Now the garden was long and the visibility poor, the way the dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky, but that twig in his hand was gold. And then he plucked a pear from a branch - we grew Fondante d'Automne - and it sat in his palm like a light bulb. On. I thought to myself, Is he putting fairy lights in the tree? Short sentence shows her sudden shock and disbelief. Simile. Shows the shape and brightness coming from it. Imagery is light and humorous in comparison with what has happened.
Makes her remember a school history lesson. Meeting between Kings of England and France where they covered their temporary palaces with golden cloth. Shows extravagance . Doesn t recognise the look on his face. His greed has given him tremendous power. He came into the house. The doorknobs gleamed. He drew the blinds. You know the mind; I thought of the Field of the Cloth of Gold and of Miss Macready. He sat in that chair like a king on a burnished throne. The look on his face was strange, wild, vain. I said, What in the name of God is going on? He started to laugh. Shows negative effects of his greed. He can not enjoy the simple things in life. Emphasising gold teeth usually found in the rich. I served up the meal. For starters, corn on the cob. Within seconds he was spitting out the teeth of the rich. He toyed with his spoon, then mine, then with the knives, the forks. He asked where was the wine. I poured with shaking hand, a fragrant, bone-dry white from Italy, then watched as he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank. List of household things turned to gold; how many things he touches. Her anxiety revealed. Watching the glass change. Alliteration of harsh sound emphasises harshness of the reality.
Humorous. His new power means he won t be able to touch his wife. Realisation It was then that I started to scream. He sank to his knees. After we had both calmed down, I finished the wine on my own, hearing him out. I made him sit on the other side of the room and keep his hands to himself. I locked the cat in the cellar. I moved the phone. The toilet I didn't mind. I couldn't believe my ears: Humorous Deliberate pause, pun. All have wishes but her fool of a husband is the one whose wish comes true. how he'd had a wish. Look, we all have wishes; granted. But who has wishes granted? Him. Do you know about gold? It feeds no one; aurum, soft, untarnishable; slakes no thirst. He tried to light a cigarette; I gazed, entranced, as the blue flame played on its luteous stem. At least, I said, you'll be able to give up smoking for good. Lack of real value in gold. Humorous - contrasts with the harsh truth.
Summarises the effect in one harsh sentence. Fear of husband and what he can do. Separate beds. In fact, I put a chair against my door, near petrified. He was below, turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun. You see, we were passionate then, in those halcyon days; unwrapping each other, rapidly, like presents, fast food. But now I feared his honeyed embrace, the kiss that would turn my lips to a work of art. Relationship dead. Focuses on what they have lost to emphasise effect. Usually positive but means this metaphor literally. His touch would kill her. And who, when it comes to the crunch, can live with a heart of gold? That night, I dreamt I bore his child, its perfect ore limbs, its little tongue like a precious latch, its amber eyes holding their pupils like flies. My dream-milk burned in my breasts. I woke to the streaming sun. Disturbing image Knows her dream of having a baby can never happen.
Relationship destroyed. So he had to move out. We'd a caravan in the wilds, in a glade of its own. I drove him up under cover of dark. He sat in the back. And then I came home, the women who married the fool who wished for gold. At first I visited, odd times, parking the car a good way off, then walking. Causes isolation for both of them. You knew you were getting close. Golden trout on the grass. One day, a hare hung from a larch, a beautiful lemon mistake. And then his footprints, glistening next to the river's path. He was thin, delirious; hearing, he said, the music of Pan from the woods. Listen. That was the last straw. Ironic that a gift focussed on wealth left him so poor in other ways. Sorrowful description which makes us pity him. What gets me now is not the idiocy or greed but lack of thought for me. Pure selfishness. I sold the contents of the house and came down here. I think of him in certain lights, dawn, late afternoon, and once a bowl of apples stopped me dead. I miss most, even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch. She is left with anger as she thinks of the man he was. Mourns their relationship . Repetition emphasises that this is the one thing she can t have.
