Time is beautiful and ugly, compassionate and cruel. Ultimately, time gives and time takes away. In response to this view, explore connections between the ways in which Larkin and Duffy present their ideas about time.

With any question that has several parts to it, it is important you address them all. Here you would need to explain if and how time is beautiful. ugly, compassionate and cruel, as well as state whether you agree time gives and takes away. Your introduction should immediately state your opinion and ideas. For example;Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Mean Time’ and ‘Pluto’, and Philip Larkin’s ‘Nothing To Be Said’ and ‘Home is So Sad’, are poems which convey time's cruel transcendence and ability to control our lives. In ‘Mean Time’ and ‘Nothing To Be Said’, both poets take on a pessimistic tone to convey how time takes away from life, leading to life’s fragility. In ‘Pluto’ and ‘Home is So Sad’, the poets adopt a more sympathetic approach to the harsh and cruel effects of time. Ultimately, both poets mostly portray the cruelty and ugliness of time and that it is not beautiful nor compassionate, as well as highlighting that it takes more than it gives.