Analysis of Okara's Once Upon a Time

1. Once Upon a Time
Gabriel Okara

2. Once upon a time son,
They used to laugh with their hearts
And laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
While their ice-block-cold eyes
Search behind my shadow.
There was a time indeed
They used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
While their left hands search
My empty pockets.
‘Feel at home’! ‘come again’!:
They say and when i come
Again and feel
At home, once, twice ,
There will be no thrice—
For then I find doors shut on me.
So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
Like dresses– homeface
Officeface, Streetface, Hostface,
Cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
Like a fixed portrait smile.
And I have learned too
To laugh with only my teeth
And shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say, ‘goodbye’,
when I mean ‘good-riddance.’
To say ‘Glad to meet you’,
Without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
Nice talking to you’, after being bored.
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
When I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
How to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
Shows only my teeth like a snakes bare fangs!
So show me, son,
How to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
Once upon a time when I was like you.

3. • Gabriel Okara is a Nigerian writer.
• He was born in Nigeria, in April 1921.
• Okara may be described as highly original and uninfluenced by other poets.
• He has been extremely successful in capturing the moods, sights and sounds
of Africa.
• His poems show great sensitivity, perceptive judgements and a tremendous
energy.
• Okara also shows a concern regarding what happens when the ancient
culture of Africa is faced with modern western culture, for example in his
poem, 'Once Upon a Time'.
Gabriel Okara

4. What It’s About
• How attitudes and people change
• How honest people used to be and how deceitful they are now
• How the author wishes he could be like he used to
• How adults can learn from innocent children - role reversal
• How adulthood can change you and how quickly people adapt to the changes
• How parenthood can change your views of the world
• It informs the listener about the society and the real truth
• Or the hard realities of being an adult rather than the innocence when a
child.
• Displays the pain of growing up, and the loss of innocence.

5. • Change - how people change over the years and become false
and untrustworthy
• Influence - the influence of the white western world on African
nations; countries like Nigeria were more honest before being
developed by the west.
• Dishonesty/hiding true intentions
• Innocence/childhood
Themes

6. • 1st
person
• Written in free verse: irregular stanzas and lack of rhyme could
mimic the speaker’s distress and struggle; his mind is
incoherent as a result of the corruption surrounding him.
• Unpoetic: seems natural and conversational – the audience is
his young son, so the style of writing must be accessible and
the message clear and simple.
• The structure of the poem makes it seem like he’s actually
talking to his child
Structure and Form

7. Opening sense of distant past and it connotes the idea of a fairy
tale: the audience is immediately captured by the familiarity of
the universal phrase and curiosity regarding how the speaker
involves this idea in his poem.
Title also sets the theme: fairy tales are associated with far-
fetched aims, and the speaker conveys his intention of
‘unlearning’ what he has learnt, which is quite impossible.
The title

8. The speaker is an elderly figure, could be a father as he calls the
listener ‘son’.
The speaker has knowledge and experience of the society.
The listener is a a younger person, could be a ‘son’- a person who
is not aware of society and is being informed.
However, as the listener does not respond it can be implied that
the ‘son’ is a representative for everyone who does not know the
truth of society.
Dialogue

9. The poem starts with the well-known words ‘Once upon a time’, suggesting that
what the speaker is going to say is a fairy tale, something so far-fetched it might
not even be believed. This makes us think that honesty in expressing emotion is
so rare nowadays that it practically is a fairy tale.
•‘laugh with their eyes’- ‘they’ actually appreciate and believe the reason of
laughter- they are enjoying themselves. Sincerity.
•‘only laugh with their teeth’ - Just a cover up, a part of socialising.
•Teeth- link to creatures and predators, ready to attack.
Stanza 1

10. • ‘search behind my shadow’ - Looking for anything that they can use against
the person.
• ‘eyes’ - can be associated with honesty and truth, a representative of a
person’s emotions and feelings, and due to the fact that they are ‘only’
laughing with their ‘teeth’ shows that the laugh is fake.
• The metaphor stating that their eyes are now ‘ice-block-cold’ displays that
people are now emotionless - compound gives an impression of no human
emotion; almost psychopathic.
Stanza 1

11. • ‘block’ : rigidity, stale, concrete
Thus can be interpreted in a few ways:
1) People have become emotionless and have become like an object, just a
‘block’- no emotions. Moreover, with the word ‘cold’ it further emphasizes
that they feel no warmth or love.
2) People have blocked their true identity and personality. Their true feelings
and opinions are unknown.
3) Could mean that people are trapped in society and are not able to
communicate or voice their opinion.
Stanza 1

12. • Use of words of ‘used to..’, ‘gone’ in contrast to ‘now’ shows the gulf of time and the
difference/division between his past and present life.
• Metaphor ‘shake hands without hearts’ creates an image of gesture that is carried out
without care and no meaning: ‘without hearts’ highlights the contradiction within oneself
between the gestures and genuine feelings; it’s a pretended warmth.
• ‘indeed’ suggests fact: there was definitely a time when honesty played a role in his life, so
this emphasises how time changes people as they grow up.
• Metaphor line 11/12: “their left hands search my empty pockets.” Left hands: sinister,
unclean, untrustworthy…The idea of deceit is raised. He is being used as a tool and conveys
the immoral actions of others – emphasising adult corruption.
Stanza 2

13. • Guests are no longer welcome these days. They are given a warm reception only
once. If they visit their friends or relatives thrice or more number of days, the doors
are shut on them.
• People in society no longer mean what they say- its all about being polite. Can never
know when someone is actually being sincere as it so rare. Also implies that true
friends are very hard to find- cannot trust anyone.
• the positive direct speech is undermined by the opening of the next line – “they
say” suggests irony and prepares us for the contrast that is to come.
• Short lines which break up the sentence suggest emotion – he is upset
• The final word of the section drives home the personal feelings
Stanza 3

14. • ‘son’ – directly addressed, so he uses examples to make his point clear.
• Experience has replaced innocence
• Simile line 20/21: “I have learned to wear many faces like dresses” -
makes expressions and emotions seem like they’re disposable, and you
can choose how to feel and when to feel it. Conveys how society is only
obsessed with appearance, not really reflecting inner feelings.
• Irony with ‘homeface’ as you would think that you are yourself at home
but even there you have a mask.
• Conforming shows that the persona is going along with authority. It is
not necessarily positive in tone
Stanza 4

15. • ‘like a fixed portrait smile’ - creates an image of a forced smile,
therefore expressing emptiness or lack of warmth. Portrait is something
someone had painted, so we understand how the society has influenced
to ‘fix’ the expected expressions on his face. As it is a portrait, it cannot
be changed- so even if the person feels other emotions, they still would
have the plastered smile on their face. Metaphor for dishonesty.
Stanza 4

16. • Despite not wanting to be like ‘them’ the speaker is saying that he has
adapted to the society and now does things he does not want to and
says things he does not mean.
• Sinister connotations, repetition of the ‘teeth’ from stanza 1.
• A passage of balance and antithesis… good has become bad.
• The requirements of a new social discourse bore him.
Stanza 5

17. • ‘when I was like you’: he is looking up to his son, on his disassociation
with fraudulent behaviour and emphasizes on how he regrets having to
repress his individuality to adopt into society.
• Simile ‘like a snake’s bare fangs!’ conveys a sinister sense and the
possible deception of himself . The exclamation mark involved could
show the magnitude of his distress, as he is need of his son’s guidance;
he has failed to achieve his objectives alone. He feels that he’s become
poisonous (like a snake).
Stanza 6

18. • The speaker is guilty of having to be like one of ‘them’ and he wants his
life to be filled with innocence and honesty again.
• He wants to revisit the time when he was naïve and unknown to the
real truth of society.
• Ironic as it seems as though, throughout the poem, the elderly figure is
teaching the ‘son’ on the truth of society, however at the end the
speaker wants the child to teach the adult- roles have been reversed.
• Okara may be wanting to say that we should learn from children to not
be hypocrites or diplomats, to just be yourself.
Stanza 7

19. • Sibilance- ‘so show me son…’ Emphasises the softness of the speakers
voice displaying that he does not want anyone else to hear.
• Or, the speaker could be embarrassed that he is asking for help from his
‘son’.
• Children are innocent and untouched by the world. They respond
naturally and without prejudice. The poem ends with a wish to return
to this state.
Stanza 7

20. Mood & Tone
• This is a sombre, emotional poem with a strong moral
message
• Serious throughout
• End stanza shows hope
• Does it end on a positive or depressing note?
• Does it inspire you or does it leave you cold?

21. Effect
• We sympathise with him because he recognises how he’s
changed, and because he wants to return to how he was.
• We relate to him because we can all understand the feeling of
not wanting to be dishonest with ourselves and two faced.