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.