Once Upon A Time Gabriel Okara

‘Once upon a time’ Opening sense of distant past + connotes the idea of a fairy tale: the audience is immediately captured, for the familiarity of the universal phrase and curiosity on how the speaker involves this idea in his poem. TITLETITLE

TITLETITLE Title 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, so this relates to the theme of fairytales.

An elderly figure, could be a father as he calls the listener ‘son’. The speaker has knowledge and experience of the society. SPEAKERSPEAKER

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. LISTENERLISTENER

1 st 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. FORMFORM

To inform 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. PURPOSEPURPOSE

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. STANZA 1STANZA 1

‘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 socializing. Teeth- link to creatures and predators, ready to attack. STANZA 1STANZA 1

‘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. Moreover the metaphor stating that their eyes are now ‘ice-block-cold’ displays that people are now emotionless.. STANZA 1STANZA 1

‘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 1STANZA 1

‘search behind my shadow’ Looking for anything that they can use against the person. STANZA 1STANZA 1

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’ highlight the contradiction within oneself between the gestures and genuine feelings: it’s a pretended warmth. STANZA 2STANZA 2

‘indeed’ suggests fact: there was definitely a time when honesty played a role in his life, so this emphasizes how time changes people as they grow up. Last line means that he is being used as a tool and conveys the immoral actions of others – again emphasizes adult corruption. STANZA 2STANZA 2

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. STANZA 3STANZA 3

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. STANZA 3STANZA 3

All about non-genuineness. ‘son’ – directly addressed, so he uses examples to make his point clear. ‘many faces’ suggests superficiality and ability to put on and remove easily, like masks. 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. STANZA 4STANZA 4

‘like a fixed portrait smile’ creates an image of a forced smile, therefore expresses 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. Moreover, 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 4STANZA 4

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. STANZA 5STANZA 5

‘but’ – turning point in the poem: significant as the speaker is starting to communicate what he genuinely desires. Repetition of personal pronoun ‘I’: in the previous stanzas, he is part of the cold and corrupt society, but now he wants to be an individual, extracted from the pretentious surrounding. STANZA 6STANZA 6

‘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. STANZA 6STANZA 6

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 7STANZA 7

Sibilance- ‘so show me son…’ Emphasizes 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’. STANZA 7STANZA 7

In this selfish world, our character learned how to adapt; he adapted a little too well. He now can play the adult role without any problem. However, once he became a parent, parenthood seems to have helped him to remember the innocent world of his childhood. Because of his son, he wants to re-learn how to be sincere. STANZA 7STANZA 7