Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179416 in Books
• Published on: 1993-05-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 56 pages

Synopsis
The author is the winner of the Forward Poetry Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award 1993. In her fourth collection, Carol Ann Duffy dramatizes scenes from childhood, adolescence and adulthood, finding moments of grace or consolation in memory, love and language amid the complexities of life. These are powerful poems of loss, betrayal and desire.

Customer Reviews

Worth the Student Debt on its own
Some people meet the loves of their lives at University; some people find their best friend there. I found both: Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy.

Her writing has the perfect formula: brevity and impact; emotion and recognition. Duffy has a way of hitting you with a single word that leaves you quite breathless but it is the number of times one recognises oneself in her writing that is quite startling. Read this and you will say, "Yes, that is it, exactly, that is how it feels." Duffy knows; Duffy understands...

Mean Time will live with me, on my shelf, and in my head. This is Duffy at her best.

Studied it years ago, still love it
I love this collection of poetry. Read it to yourself, read it out loud, share it with friends.
There are so many different emotions and relationships explored in this collection its impossible for someone not to find several that touch them. I personally love Adultery for its imagery, Closer just because and Moments of Grace because its beautiful. There are many more that I enjoy.
I've found it to be a book I come back to time and again. I made notes in it when I was a student and fine that my interpretation has changed over the years as I've experienced more of the subjects covered in the book.
I've also found that a poem can be used to start discussions and its a collection that easily accessible even to those who don't generally read poetry.
Don't let the Onion poem from GCSE put you off, this one is for grown ups!

A fantastic collection of poetic genius.
As an A level english lit student I was overjoyed when handed this collection as my set poetic text. I was especially interested in the way that Duffy looks at memory processes in this collection. She seems not only to be interested in what aspects of the past she looks at but how she achieves the thought.
A great poem is "Cafe Royal" Which depicts a young man wishing he could go back in time and save Oscar Wilde from his fate in prison. "Before you were mine" is also equally brilliant. Duffy addresses so many lifestyles and situations in this collection it is almost impossible for it not to relate in some way to every reader. A massive thumbs up!