'clocks slid back an hour' is a reference to the GMT switch-over and autumn weather being part of the pathetic fallacy used in the poem.
'walking through the wrong part of town' is an example of a psychological landscape, where the persona projects their feelings onto their surroundings. Here the persona is upset, so everything seems wrong. The part of town may be literally wrong, as the persona may not live there, and thus it feels unfamiliar. This fits with the stereotype that people walk when they are upset and end up somewhere they are unfamiliar with.
'mourning our love' characterises the poem as a break up poem.
'And, of course, unmendable rain' - this an example of dry humour, it is almost ironic, "of course it would be raining", as everything else is going wrong. This is also an example of pathetic fallacy, as the persona is projecting their feelings onto the weather. This contributes to the feeling of hopelessness, misery and the irrepairability of the relationship
'bleak streets' - psychological landscape
'heart gnaw / at all our mistakes' - this is an image for a way of eating that requires lots of effort for very little reward, emphasises persona's frustration, and avoiding the cliche of 'it was eating away at me'
'There are words I never would have said / nor heard you say' refers to an argument the lovers had.
'If the darkening sky could lift / more than one hour from this day' is almost placing the blame on the sky for the failure of the relationship, and is an expression of the persona's grief. This is almost inviting the sky to take more time from the day, so the argument wouldn't have happened.
'we will be dead... beyond all light' - the relationship will be dead despite the love they may experience in the future. Light and dark is used as metaphors for hope and despair.
'Shortened days' and 'endless nights' is a reference to GMT, and the cold winter is part of the pathetic fallacy in the poem.
'endless nights' refers to the nights literally being longer, but perhaps also seeming endless as the persona is unable to sleep.
the rhymes in the 3rd and 4th stanzas perhaps show that the persona's thoughts are ordered; turned over thoughts over and over in their head?

	Created by Summer Pearce almost 7 years ago

Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy's poem, 'Mean Time', as part of the AQA A-level English Language and Literature 2015 specification (7706/7707)

Mean Time