QUESTION
“Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara is an intimate conversation between a parent and his son about life. How does the poet deal with the challenges he has experienced in his life? In your answer, you should make close reference to:
← Language of the poem;
← Differences between appearances and reality;
← What the father has learnt about life.
Ensure that you give evidence from the poem to support your answers.
(30 MARKS)
ANSWER
“Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara is a poem based on the theme of places. It is an intimate conversation between a father and son about the truth about life. This poem has seven stanzas and their lengths are unequal. This poem has no rhyme scheme. The fairy tale like title of the poem acts as a flash back. This gives the reader a sense that the poet is narrating a story. The overall tone of the poem is sombre and somewhat mournful as the persona compares the present with the past. The mournfulness is brought out by the persona being ashamed of who he has become.
The opening line of the poem, “Once upon a time, son”, is a repetition of the title, furthering the effect of the flash back and sets the tone of the poem. The use of “son” sets the conversational tone and hints to the reader that the poem is an intimate conversation between father and son.
In the next line, the persona says, “they used to laugh with their hearts”. The use of “they” refers to the society as a whole. The metaphor, “laugh with their hearts”, is a metaphor for innocence as laughing with one’s heart is impossible. The metaphor means that they laughed out of pleasure, not out for the sake of laughter. The tone of this line is quite friendly and reminiscent/ nostalgic of the days when there was black and white, no shades of grey. The persona looks back through rose-tinted glasses and this may suggest some exaggeration.
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The fourth line of the poem, “but now they only laugh with their teeth”, is another metaphor, but this is a metaphor for pretence, not for innocence. The use of the phrase “but now” indicates a comparison between past and present. The “but” also adds to the conversational tone of the poem. The use of “they” once again represents the society in general i.e. without any specific reference to a specific person.
The next line, “and laugh with their eyes”, is a continuation of the previous line. The metaphor in this line, “laugh with their eyes”, suggests the sincerity of the smiles and that people were genuinely pleased. This is because when one truly smiles, it reaches the eyes, and this could be the reason why the poet chose to use the metaphor, “smile with their eyes”.
The next line, “but now they only laugh with their teeth”, is a contradictory metaphor to the previous line. The fact that the people smiled with their “teeth” could suggest that the smiles were false and were only façades. This means that the smile was only an appearance, not reality.
The enjambment in the next two lines, “while their ice-block-cold eyes/search behind my shadow”, increases the pace at which the poem is to be read. The metaphor, “ice-block-cold eyes” refers to the way the society, (indicated by the use of the collective third person, “their”), looks at the persona, i.e. they look at him with hatred/envy. The use of the first person belonging, “my” authenticates the poem. The phrase, “search behind my shadow”, could suggest that “they”, (i.e. society), look at him with material friendship and only see his material value and his negative traits.
The opening line of the next stanza, “there was a time indeed”, helps to further bring out the feeling of comparison between the present and the past. The use of the exclamation, “indeed”, suggests that the persona is trying to convince the reader about something deemed quite unbelievable. It also adds to the fairy tale like tone created by the title and opening line of the poem.
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The next line of the stanza, “they used to shake hands with their hearts”, is a metaphor. The meaning of this metaphor is that people used to greet one another whole-heartedly and were genuinely pleased to meet one another. The sincerity is proven by the use of “hearts”.
The use of “but” in the next line continues the conversational tone of the poem. It also introduces the mournful tone, which is also detected in the poem. The use of “son” in the same line once more adds to the conversational nature of the poem. “That’s gone” shows the comparison between the past and the present. The persona is trying to explain to his son that all the politeness and genuine courtesy of the past is now gone.
The enjambment in the final three lines of the stanza, “Now they shake hands without hearts/while their left hands search/my empty pockets”, could simply be used to increase the pace at which the lines are to be read. It could also suggest that the persona is angry about the fact that people have changed into the cold, calculating type, rather than remaining the warm, friendly type. The mention of “left hand” could be a reference to under the table or illegal actions. The persona says that they searched his “empty pockets”. This could mean that they only befriended him out of materialistic emotions, and not out of like. They liked his money, and not his personality. The facts that his pockets were “empty” made them detest him and no longer “enjoy” his companionship.
The poet uses direct speech in the first line of the next stanza. “’Feel at home’! ’Come again’” are certain false niceties the persona has heard when he visits acquaintances. He mentions them in his conversation to emphasise the sarcasm of it all. It is also mentioned to indirectly let the reader know the hidden meaning of such common phrases. The use of the exclamation mark helps the reader to see how sarcastic the comments are.
The use of “So” in the next stanza continues the conversational tone of the poem. The use of “son” in the same line adds to the conversational tone of the poem. When the persona says, “I have learned many things” he implies that he has learnt about the facts of life. He has realised the finer points on the way life is and how to pass through it, without being conned.
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The metaphor in the next two lines, “I have learned to wear many faces/like dresses” indicates that the persona is now using the knowledge he has required through his experiences. The use of “dresses” indicates that the persona has many faces for various occasions. He then lists the masks he wears on a day-to-day basis – “homeface/officeface, streetface, hostface/cocktailface”. The fact that he has so many masks is somewhat disturbing to the reader.
The metaphor in the last two lines of the stanza, “with all their conforming smiles/like fixed portraits”, further adds to the disturbed felling, previously sensed. The use of “conforming” suggests that all the smiles were completely identical. The use of “fixed portraits” further adds to the fact that all the smiles were the same.
The use of the conjunction, “and”, to start the next stanza adds to the flow of the poem. It also shows that the persona has also joined the rest of society. The emphatic “too” also adds to the same.
The entire stanza displays examples of differences between appearances and reality. The persona says that when he says “’Goodbye’”, he actually means “’Good-riddance’”. The persona also states that he has also learned to say “’Glad to meet you’, /without being glad”. This further adds to the list of differences between appearances and reality. Another example of the sarcasm used in the conversations between the persona and his acquaintances is “’It’s been nice talking to you’, after being bored.” This concludes the examples of brief, sarcastic moments in the persona’s life.
The use of the conjunction in the first line of the next stanza, “but” continues the conversational tone of the poem. The imperative in the same line, “believe me” indicates desperation and also adds to the conversational tone. The use of “son” also adds to the conversational tone of the poem.
The use of enjambment in the next two lines, “I want to be what I used to be/when I was like you”, hints at a desperate need to regain Innocence once more. The use of the first person adds to the desperation displayed in this stanza. When the persona says that he wants to “unlearn all these muting things”, he simply means that he wants to forget all the suppressing notions he has learnt.
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The metaphor in the last line of the stanza, “shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!” suggests that the persona has become a cruel, vicious man and can no longer smile without seeming like a poisonous snake.
In the last stanza of the poem, show me how/I used to laugh and smile/ once upon a time when I was like you”, the tables have been turned. Instead of the son asking for advice from the father, the father is asking for advice from the son. The repetition of “once upon a time” adds to the fairy tale like nature of the poem and it makes the role-reversal unbelievable.
This poem is an excellent example of what is going on in today’s world. It displays the way things have changed, from what they used to be like in the past and the way they are in the present. It shows the change of a man from being a warm, friendly man to a cold, calculating one and the desperation of that same man to revert to his old self who, he strongly believes is his true self, but has forgotten how it was. His desperate need to relearn how to truly laugh and smile are but mere metaphors for him wanting to be reborn as a better man, a kind, friendly man, and the man he used to be.
