Mean time by Carol Ann Duffy

 Mean time by Carol Ann Duffy

In the first stanza it is written “stole a light from my life” this implies that here life if empty and filled with darkness as well as the fact that happiness has been taken from her. The word “stole” highlights the point that someone or something took that time away from her and that she wants that time back. It is later written in the stanza “I walked through to wrong part or town” this line could symbolise that she took a wrong turn in her life and lead a different life that she now regrets. The writer ends with the sentence “mourning our love” this could link with how love has stolen time from her and that love is the reason so much time has been spent.

The second stanza mentions “ Unmendable rain”. Rain is water droplets and water is a symbolic image in the bible of cleansing and the washing away of sin and hatred, however it is written that the rain is Unmendable showing that what has happened is unforgivable and is beyond redemption. Rain is also a symbolic image of sadness and is used as pathetic fallacy to cast the sadness over the whole poem.

The word bleak furthermore supports the point that her life is empty. At the end of the stanza it is written “I felt my heart gnaw at all our mistakes” showing that the mistakes they made are eating away at her and that the writer is constantly bugged by it.

It is written the start of the third stanza “ if the darkening sky could lift” meaning that she is wrapped in a metaphorical darkness and that she wishes lift revealing a blue sky, happier and hopefully. It is also written “words I would never have said nor have heard you say” this shows that she regrets what she shouldn’t have said and that there are things that she regrets hearing.

It is written in the last stanza “we will be dead” showing that the reader has little hope left and highlighting that you need to be carful about the path you take in life. It is also writer “shortened days and endless nights” this sentence tells the readers of the poem that life can feel short and it can feel long.

In my opinion the poem exploits themes of love and how it can be dangerous leading you down the wrong path.

The poet uses juxtaposition when writing to compare how she feels to how she wishes she felt. 

The poem could have been based of one of Duffy’s previous relationships and how it was damaging towards her feelings