Mean Time

Question 1

summary

Answer 1

heartbreak and grieving after a breakup
clocks have turned back after daylight savings and they reminisce on the breakeup and what they could have done differently
speaker imagines turning the clocks back even further to undo an argument

Question 2

time

Answer 2

presented as inescapable and forever moving on

Question 3

place

Answer 3

a bleakly described residential area, possibly a city
place is influenced by the clocks going back making it seem darker and less familiar to the speaker

Question 4

relationships

Answer 4

grieving a failed relationship
thinking about the future they’ll no longer have together

Question 5

characteristics of the poetic voice

Answer 5

despondent about the future
disappointment
bleak outlook on life

Question 6

“mourning” “shortened days” “darkening sky” “we will be dead”
semantic field of death

Answer 6

implies the relationship was her whole life, no point living without this person
the end of something so significant to her that it represents her own end

Question 7

“the clocks slid back an hour and stole light from my life” “felt my heart gnaw” “endless nights”
pattern of metaphors

Answer 7

first metaphor has dual meaning for time and the relationship ending
they feel pain after this breakup
PV is despondent

Question 8

“I” “we” “our”
pattern of personal pronouns

Answer 8

realises collective failure within the relationship but personally wants to turn back time
PV feels ownership of mistakes

Question 9

comparison to other poems

Answer 9

Valentine - both use references to pain to reflect the harmfulness and hurt that comes from the end of a relationship