The Full Text of “Mean Time”
The Full Text of “Mean Time”
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“Mean Time” Introduction
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Carol Ann Duffy's "Mean Time" is a poem about heartache, regret, and the relentless passage of time. The poem's speaker, mourning a recent breakup, walks down a dark, rainy street in the middle of autumn, after the clocks have been turned back for daylight savings time. The speaker laments their inability to wind the clocks back even further in order to undo a bitter argument with their former lover. Instead, they know that the days are only going shorter and the nights longer—a reflection of their own inescapable sorrow. Duffy published "Mean Time" in her 1993 poetry collection of the same name.
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“Mean Time” Summary
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Winding the clocks back robbed me of an hour of daylight while I wandered around through a part of town I wouldn't normally be in, grieving the end of our relationship.
Rain, which can't be put back together, fell against the desolate streets while my heart kept agonizing over all the wrong choices we both made.
If only the sky, which was growing darker, could have erased more than a single hour from the day, then I wouldn't have said those things to you, nor would you have said those things to me.
In any case, we'll both be dead eventually, far past any light at all. These are waning days and never-ending nights.
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“Mean Time” Themes
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The Pain of Lost Love and Regret
"Mean Time" describes a speaker walking through town while "mourning" the end of a love affair. The dark, rainy night reflects the speaker's misery as they grapple with the fact that they can never erase the bitter "words" that led to the end of their relationship. Regret only amplifies the pain of the speaker's heartache; knowing it’s impossible to fix the "mistakes" of the past, the speaker feels utterly hopeless about the future.
The poem's gloomy setting mirrors the speaker’s despair. The poem takes place in late fall, when people turn back the "clocks" for daylight savings time. As a result of this process, it gets darker earlier in the evening, something the speaker compares to the clocks "stealing" light. This literal loss of daylight represents the symbolic loss of the speaker's joy; their life seems less warm and vibrant without their love.
In fact, the entire world seems to reflect the speaker's heartache. The impending onset of winter—a season of cold, death, and darkness—mirrors the fact that the speaker's future appears dismal in the wake of their breakup. The sky is "darkening," the streets are "bleak," and the rain is "unmendable," incapable of being put back together after it splatters on the ground. All this imagery represents the speaker's hopelessness and irreparable heartache.
Even as the speaker agonizes over their "mistakes," trying to make sense of what went wrong and wishing they could change things, they know that it's impossible to turn back time. Just as the rain can't soar back up into the sky, the speaker can't alter the course of events that led them here. The speaker must live with their loss and the frustrating reality that some wounds, like that rain, are “unmendable.”
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-12
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Time and Mortality
The poem's title, "Mean Time," is a play on words: time is "mean," or cruel, in the sense that it marches on relentlessly, regardless of people's desires. No matter how much the speaker regrets the exchange of words that led to their breakup, they can't go back and do things differently. The poem illustrates that people are powerless when it comes to time, which they can neither reverse nor pause nor keep from flowing endlessly forward. Thinking about the "darkening sky" and impending long winter nights, the speaker seems to mourn not just the end of a relationship but the eventual end of everything—including the final loss of all "light" that occurs in death.
When the speaker says that the "clocks slid back an hour," they're referring to daylight savings time: when people turn clocks back in the fall. Time itself isn't actually moving backward, of course; instead, the clocks are "stealing" light in the sense that this time change means that the sun sets earlier in the day. Darkness comes sooner and the nights get longer, a process that reflects the speaker's deepening sorrow.
And there's nothing the speaker can do about it! Like the "unmendable rain" falling to the ground, time flows only in one direction, and it's entirely out of the speaker's hands. The days will get shorter and shorter until, eventually, there are only "the endless nights."
These nights are symbolic: they represent both the speaker's hopelessness and the total, "endless" darkness of death. Indeed, the speaker acknowledges that eventually both they and their ex-lover "will be dead, as we know, / beyond all light." Darkness arriving sooner isn't just literal, then; it suggests that time moves people inevitably towards a place where they won't be able to feel love or regret or anything at all. In this way, the poem grapples with more than just the dissolution of a love affair; it also mourns human mortality and the inevitable forward momentum of time, which does not slow down for people's feelings.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2
- Lines 13-16
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mean Time”
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Lines 1-4
The clocks slid ...
... mourning our love.The poem's title, "Mean Time," is a play on words:
- Firstly, it refers to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the time zone in Britain. In the UK, the clocks are advanced an hour in the summer and then set back at the end of October. The poem thus takes place in the middle of fall.
- Secondly, it's a play on the common phrase, in the meantime, which describes a period of time in which one is waiting for something expected to happen.
- Thirdly, it can be read as personifying time as "Mean" or cruel.
The speaker builds on this personification of time in the first two lines of the poem itself, saying that the "clocks," wound back for daylight savings time, "stole light" from the speaker's "life." Turning back the clocks means that the sun sets earlier; literally, then, there is less daylight. Symbolically, though, this loss of light reflects the loss of happiness, comfort, etc. Time becomes a robber in the poem, a thief of joy. (The dwindling "light" in the speaker's life also gestures toward human mortality—a theme the speaker will touch on at the poem's end.)
By the end of the stanza, it becomes clear that the speaker is going through a breakup. Devastated by this loss of love, the speaker's despair colors the way they experience the world. That is, they see their own sorrow reflected in the darkness that surrounds them. The mention of "the wrong part of town" might mean that the speaker is in a dangerous area or simply that they're somewhere they're not supposed to—in their former's lover's neighborhood, perhaps.
The poem features natural, conversational language. This makes it feel modern and intimate, as though readers are getting a glimpse directly into the speaker's thoughts. Note, too, how the sounds of these opening lines enhance their meaning:
- The quiet /s/ alliteration of "slid" and "stole" evokes time's slipperiness and stealth.
- The consonance and alliteration of the liquid /l/ sound ("clocks slid," "stole light," "life") has a similar effect, conveying time's fluid motion.
- The alliteration and assonance of "light" and "life" call attention to the thematic link between these words; light is essential to life. The slant rhyme between "life" and "love" hints that love is a deeply important part of life as well.
- Finally, the enjambment of lines 1-2 pushes the reader forward without pause, mimicking the speaker's listless wandering and the way time slips through their fingers.
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Lines 5-8
And, of course, ...
... all our mistakes. -
Lines 9-12
If the darkening ...
... heard you say. -
Lines 13-16
But we will ...
... the endless nights.
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“Mean Time” Symbols
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Light
Light in the poem refers to more than literal daylight. It also symbolizes joy, love, and life itself. When the speaker says that the clocks "stole light from my life," they're not just talking about the fact that daylight savings time results in it getting dark outside earlier in the evening. They're also saying that they feel robbed of happiness in the wake of their breakup. Life feels darker and duller without their beloved by their side. The speaker builds on this symbolism in the poem's final stanza, when they declare, "we will be dead, as we know / beyond all light." Death is a state of total darkness. In death, the speaker will be cut off from "light"—joy, warmth, vitality—entirely.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “The clocks slid back an hour / and stole light from my life”
- Lines 13-14: “But we will be dead, as we know, / beyond all light.”
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Darkness
If light in the poem symbolizes love, joy, and life, then darkness symbolizes the opposite: death and despair. The darkening days of later autumn mirror the speaker's deepening sadness over the end of their relationship. The "shortening days" and lengthening nights of winter represent the speaker's hopelessness; the speaker looks into a future that they imagine will be devoid of love.
Thinking about the changing seasons and the unstoppable motion of time prompts the speaker to look ahead to the day when both they and their ex-lover will both be dead, "beyond all light." In addition to representing an empty, lonely future, the "endless nights" that close the poem also symbolize the final darkness of death.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “The clocks slid back an hour / and stole light from my life”
- Line 9: “the darkening sky”
- Lines 14-16: “beyond all light. / These are the shortened days / and the endless nights.”
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“Mean Time” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
The speaker personifies time in the first two lines of the poem. Describing the process of daylight savings, the speaker says, "The clocks slid back an hour / and stole light from my life." This personification builds on the poem's title, "Mean Time," which is a play on words suggesting that time itself is cruel. The early sunset caused by winding the clocks back mirrors the speaker's pain; the speaker has lost not just literal sunlight but the symbolic light of love and happiness.
Personifying time conveys the speaker's sense of helplessness. The speaker is angry with themselves for saying certain "words" to their former lover, but they know they can't go back and mend the "mistakes" of the past. They level their anger at time itself, resenting its relentless march towards darkness and, eventually, death.
The clocks aren't really stealing anything, of course; it's human beings setting them back and robbing the speaker of an hour of daylight. Time only feels sneaky and cruel when viewed through the lens of the speaker's despair. Indeed, the speaker's pain casts the whole world into a dark and dreary light, and the poem is filled with examples of pathetic fallacy: moments when the speaker projects their own feelings onto their surroundings. For example, the speaker describes the "rain" as "unmendable"—incapable of being fixed, just like their relationship and/or their broken heart. Likewise, calling the streets "bleak" reflects the bleakness of the speaker's own life following their breakup.
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “The clocks slid back an hour / and stole light from my life”
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Parallelism
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Assonance
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Enjambment
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Consonance
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"Mean Time" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- The clocks slid back an hour
- Unmendable
- Bleak
- Gnaw
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “The clocks slid back an hour”)
The speaker is referring to daylight savings time. In the UK (and elsewhere), clocks are set forward an hour in the summer, resulting in later sunsets. The clocks are then wound back in the fall, resulting in earlier sunsets.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mean Time”
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Form
"Mean Time" consists of four quatrains, or four-line stanzas. These don't follow a regular meter, and the poem's language feels conversational and contemporary. Frequent enjambment within stanzas pulls readers down the page, subtly mimicking the way time moves forward as "light" and happiness slip through the speaker's fingers.
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Meter
"Mean Time" doesn't use a regular meter. (There is, arguably, a very subtle rhyme scheme at work, meaning it's not entirely free verse.) The lack of meter makes the poem's language feel intimate; it flows smoothly and conversationally, as if the reader is hearing the speaker's innermost thoughts.
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Rhyme Scheme
On first read, "Mean Time" doesn't appear to follow a rhyme scheme.
Stanzas 3 and 4 do, however, each contain an end rhyme between their second and fourth lines: "day" and "say" in stanza 3, and "light" and "nights" in stanza 4. This creates an ABCB rhyme scheme. These rhymes lend musicality and emphasis as the poem nears its conclusion, making it feel more emotional and memorable.
One could say that the poem actually follows an ABCB rhyme scheme throughout. The end rhymes in the first stanza are decidedly slant: "life" and "love," however. And in stanza 2, the rhymes are even more subtle, if one even calls them rhymes at all ("streets" and "mistakes" share consonance, so there's at least an echo there if not a true rhyme).
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“Mean Time” Speaker
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The speaker is someone who has just gone through a devastating breakup. They are wandering the streets of their city obsessing over what went wrong and wishing they could go back in time and do things differently. The fact that they can't erase the past makes them despair about the future, which they imagine is made up of "endless nights."
The poem doesn't specify the speaker's identity in any way. Though the poet undoubtedly draws from her own experiences of lost love, the poem contains no overtly autobiographical details.
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“Mean Time” Setting
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The poem is set on a rainy night in the middle of fall, when the "clocks" are turned back an hour for daylight savings time. As a result, the speaker is confronted with a sky that's "darkening" earlier than usual, making them feel as if the clocks have stolen "light from [their] life."
The speaker mentions being in "the wrong part of town," suggesting that they don't normally frequent this part of the city; in the aftermath of their breakup, they find themselves somewhere unfamiliar and, perhaps, dangerous. ("Wrong part of town" might also mean that the speaker is in their ex's neighborhood—a part of town that they're no longer supposed to be in.) When they describe "unmendable rain" falling "to the bleak streets," this an an example of pathetic fallacy: the speaker projects their emotional landscape onto the world.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Mean Time”
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Literary Context
Carol Ann Duffy's "Mean Time" was published in her prize-winning 1993 collection of the same name, which touches on themes of childhood, memory, love, and, unsurprisingly, the passage of time. The title has multiple meanings: it refers to Greenwich Mean Time, the time zone used in Britain; it evokes the phrase "in the meantime"; and it suggests that time itself is "mean," cruelly marching forward.
Duffy's poetry is known for being straightforward yet effective, accessible yet insightful. She often writes in free verse and uses relaxed, conversational language. Her literary influences are diverse, including modernist poets like T.S. Eliot, Romantic poets like John Keats and William Wordsworth, and free verse poets like Sylvia Plath, whose exploration of women's interior lives would prove foundational to Duffy's own poetry. A lesbian writer in an often conservative, male-dominated literary culture, Duffy herself has blazed trails in her exploration of women's and LGBTQ narratives in contemporary UK poetry.
Born to working-class parents in Scotland, in 2009 Duffy became the first woman, the first Scottish poet, and the first openly LGBTQ person to become Poet Laureate of the UK. Along with Seamus Heaney, she is now one of the most widely taught poets in UK schools and her work is renowned for its empathy and sharp-edged insights into contemporary life.
Historical Context
"Mean Time" was written in the 1990s, but it doesn't directly reference any historical events or figures. It does nod to the modern world in the first stanza with its description of turning the clocks back, however. The United Kingdom began observing what it calls "British Summer Time" in 1916, winding the clocks forward an hour as part of an effort to conserve coal during World War I (starting the day earlier means there's an extra hour of sunlight later on). To this day in the UK, as well as many other nations, the clocks are moved forward an hour in the spring in order to take advantage of the daylight. The clocks then "slide back," reverting to Greenwich Mean Time, in the fall.
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More “Mean Time” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poet's Life — Check out a Poetry Foundation biography of Carol Ann Duffy.
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A Review of Mean Time — Check out a review of the collection in which "Mean Time" was published.
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A Lincoln Review Conversation — An interview in which Duffy speaks about her poetry and recites several of her poems.
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Poems About Breakups and Heartbreak — A Book Riot roundup of 25 poems about partings of the heart.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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