Anne Hathaway
The speaker of this poem, Shakespeare's wife, channels her late husband's poetic talent through using the sonnet form, but her sonnet breaks from his mould by abandoning most of a rhyme scheme and a strict meter. She reminisces about her husband's love and likens it to his writing. She interprets the gift of the second-best bed as a symbol of the love they shared on it.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, who lived from 1564-1616 in England, is the most famous writer in the English language. The playwright and poet, though unnamed, is implicitly present in the poem. He is unique; unlike the guest occupants of their first-best bed, who "dribble in prose," his existence is defined by poetry, romance, and drama. In this poem Shakespeare's wife has only positive feelings toward him; this rejects the popular notion that their marriage was forced, due to their age difference (Shakespeare was 18, while she was 26) or the fact that they had a child less than nine months later.
