Critical review of Carol Ann Duffy's poem 'Mean Time'.
Name: Ben Gibb
Teacher: Mrs. Sell
Draft for 'Mean Time'
Carol Ann Duffy's poem 'Mean Time' is about loss of love and the different ways in which time brings about change or loss of life itself. The poem is very personal and autobiographical to Duffy's life as are most of her poems. 'Mean Time' is based on mourning your lost love and how regrets seem meaningless when one day you get up and realise its not just time which has passed you by, but time has stolen your life too, and in the end it will only be the mourning that you regret. The idea of time and how it is finite is one of the main themes in the poem.
The title 'Mean Time' could be emphasising a few points one of which is how time can be 'mean' when one needs a few moments to reflect on their thoughts, so in result ' the effects of time can be mean'.
The first line in the opening stanza, conveys one of the themes in the poem 'the clocks slid back an hour' here Duffy is using sibilance, to show an image of the clocks sneakily sliding back as it steals 'light from' her life. Duffy is trying to show how the narrator has had an hour stolen from her without her awareness, which also highlights that the speaker has no control over her life, as clocks tend to be turned back by hand.
The end of the stanza is end stopped, as it describes the character strolling 'through the wrong part of town' which firstly seems pointless but also emphasises that the relationship is coming to its closing stages as there is no where else to go but in the opposite direction and move on.
In the second stanza there are many connotations of words which describe the narrator's emotions. First of all the 'unmendabl rain' which is symbolizing the woman's lack of ability to stop crying. Next Duffy describes her heart 'gnawing' on the 'bleak streets' which gives us ...
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The end of the stanza is end stopped, as it describes the character strolling 'through the wrong part of town' which firstly seems pointless but also emphasises that the relationship is coming to its closing stages as there is no where else to go but in the opposite direction and move on.
In the second stanza there are many connotations of words which describe the narrator's emotions. First of all the 'unmendabl rain' which is symbolizing the woman's lack of ability to stop crying. Next Duffy describes her heart 'gnawing' on the 'bleak streets' which gives us a miserable and depressing feeling of emotion which the narrator is going through. The stanza is ended by stating that it's 'our mistakes' she is recognising that her partner is not all to blame and they need to share mistakes, this shows the first sign of putting her life back together.
The poem moves on and tells us how she wants just 'one hour' to be lifted so she 'would never have said' the words she did. This sets the tone for the whole poem; regret and longing. It makes the reader feel that she has wasted enough time of her life on this one man, its time to move on. However one moment she is regretting spending too much time mourning her lost love, now she is stepping over old territory again, which makes the poem a bit cliché, so the sympathy for the woman is now lost.
One of the last important themes of 'Mean Time' is conveyed in the final stanza, this is how time is finite 'we will be dead' because death is rapidly approaching everyone, which highlights the fact that mourning is pointless. This is where the reader can relate to Duffy because they can share their 'mistakes' too because the events in the poem can happen to all most anybody. I believe that Duffy's conclusion is do not let your heart take control of your life, you need to no when to move on.
The language throughout is very calm and well organised which helps to emphasises the realism of the poem, but additionally it also shows that the narrator can accept what has happened even though she regrets it. The language creates a lot of emotional images and never any anger, which is surprising.
The form and structure of 'Mean time' shape the meanings of the poem, as it goes from stanza to stanza; it is emphasising life as a whole. First your relationship breaks up and your grieve your loss. Second you come to terms with your 'mistakes'. Next you start to wonder, what if you did things differently. And fourth you realise there is not enough time to regret mistakes because death is finite, so its time to move on. So it sort of sets the stages as guidance for love but also helps the reader to realise you can't turn back time, so why spend your life trying to do so.
Similar to 'Mean Time' is 'Valentine' which is another one of Duffy's poems, which deals with love and heartache. The poem is about the giving of an unusual present an 'onion' for Valentines Day, however there is a deeper meaning, the love between two people. The onion is an extended metaphor for love, Duffy conveys how she despises the traditional valentines gifts, 'not a red rose or satin heart. She believes that these things are too original because millions of people have the same idea, so the meaning is worthless. Where as an onion is special it has the power to make people 'cry' from the 'scent' as love does sometimes, additionally the taste of the onion is a metaphor of a long lasting kiss which 'will stay' with you.
Both poems are similar in the way they talk about love, they both emphasis that love has its good sides but also has its negative sides too. In 'Valentine' she describes love as it will blind you with tears, but then contradicts love and says how a thing such as 'marriage' can be 'lethal'. However in this poem the narrator is scared of commitment, with the wrong person, whereas in mean time she wants that bond so it takes away the 'endless nights.
With both of these poems Duffy manages to take us inside relationships, which are both female affairs.
Similar the language in both poems explore longing, death and love, 'mean time' describes how time is finite, and before you no it you will be 'dead', additionally 'Valentine' describes the harsh elements of love it will bring grief and tears.
Further more another poem which also emphasises the harshness of love is 'Havisham' the language is this poem is similar to the previous poems, in tone and emotion. The poem is again from a woman's perspective; she claims how she got stood up on her wedding day by her 'beloved sweetheart bastard'. The poem is more complex than the other two mainly because of the gap in time they were written. Similar to 'Mean Time', the poem shows how the woman cannot move on, she also is mourning her loss, ''not a day since then I haven't wished him dead' the narrator is finding it hard to move on she longs for 'sweet' revenge. All of these poems narrators are finding it hard to move on they are all blinded by 'heartache' and seem to have loss any sense of life and how precious it can be.
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