Mean Time

Question 1

Summary of Mean Time

Answer 1

The poem “Mean Time” describes the feelings of the speaker, maybe the poet, after the end of a relationship. There is a pervading sense of gloom, where the shortening autumn days and what is commonly referred to as “moving the clocks back” are a metaphor for the sadness of a failed love.

Question 2

And, of course, unmendable rain

Answer 2

The “unmendable rain” continues the idea of bad outcomes that can’t be reversed — pathetic fallacy in which the weather reflects the unhappiness of the protagonists

Question 3

fell to the bleak streets

Answer 3

The assonant “bleak streets” reinforce the gloom, with their elongated vowels and plosive “b” and “t”.

Question 4

I felt my heart knaw

Answer 4

The verb “gnaw” is animalistic — an example of zoomorphism — and evokes deep pain.