Gabriel
Okara
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‘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.
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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.
S
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An elderly figure, could be a father as he
calls the listener ‘son’.
The speaker has knowledge and
experience of the society.
L
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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.
• 1st person
F
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• 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.
P
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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.
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1
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.
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‘laugh with their eyes’- ‘they’ actually
appreciate and believe the reason of laughterthey 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.
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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..
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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.
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1
‘search behind my shadow’
Looking for anything that they can use
against the person.
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2
• 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.
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• ‘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.
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• Last line means that he is being used as a
tool and conveys the immoral actions of
others – again emphasizes adult
corruption.
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3
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.
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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 findcannot trust anyone.
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4
• 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.
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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.
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5
• 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.
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• ‘but’ – turning point in the poem: significant
as the speaker is starting to communicate
what he genuinely desires.
Z
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• 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.
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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.
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• 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.
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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’.
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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.