English

Literature: Poetry

“Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara.

 At the end of the lesson, you should be able to,

● Understand the literal and figurative

meanings of the poem, “Once Upon a Time”
by Gabriel Okara.
● Comment on the effectiveness of the

Lesson Objectives ●
figurative devices in bringing across the
poet’s intended meaning.
identify the element of poetry in the given
piece
● Write a paragraph outlining the message(s)
in the poem being studied.
● Connect the issues in the poem being
studied to real life events.
 Did you have grandparents or older
persons in their lives who would

Let’s Share ‘warn’ them about something or

provide them with wise sayings?

What are some of these sayings?

 Do you know any proverb or popular
Jamaican wise sayings? Let’s write them
down.
Person with the most CORRECT proverbs wins a prize.
Gabriel Okara, in full Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara,
is a Nigerian poet and novelist whose verse had been
translated into several languages by the early 1960s.

A largely self-educated man, Okara became a bookbinder

after leaving school and soon began writing plays and
features for radio. In his poem, The Call of the River Nun,
won an award at the Nigerian Festival of Arts.

Okara’s poetry is based on a series of contrasts in which

symbols are neatly balanced against each other. The need to
reconcile the extremes of experience (life and death are
common themes) preoccupies his verse, and a typical poem
has a circular movement from everyday reality to a moment
of joy and back to reality again.
Let’s Discuss

1. What do you think the poem will be about?

2. Who is the speaker of the poem?

3. To whom is the speaker talking or targeting?

4. What message is the speaker telling or relaying to this person?

 Let’s Read!

Let’s get into the poem “Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara
Literal Meaning

A parent is talking to his/her’s son and telling him how things used to be. The parent tells the son
that people used to be sincere but are now superficial and seek only to take from others. The
persona tells the child that he/she has learnt to be just like these people but does not want to be
like that anymore. The parent wants to be as sincere as the son.

The Bigger Picture.

The Father speaks to his son about how the society has changes him to conform to its society,
which he regrets. He then asked his son to teach him the traits or values he one possessed.

NB. – Our values or personality changes to fit in society its expectation.

 with the title
“Once Upon a Time”
 “Once upon a time” conjures images
of the past. It also connotes the idea
of a fairy-tale, thereby piquing
readers’ interests.
The Analysis
Stanza one highlights a conversation/monologue between what
seems to be a father and son, where the father wants to learn from
his son how to go back to normality (being genuine) and no longer
insincere. The poem starts with ‘the father’ telling his son how
people used to laugh with their hearts’. Also, this description in the
poem gives the impression of genuine emotion given off by the
people.
Stanza two then reveals more of the past when it is said that, ‘they used
to shake hands with their hearts’, again this image reveals true and
genuine emotion. However, just as the first Stanza the present reality is
then discussed when it is said that, ‘that has gone, now they only shake
hands without hearts while their left hands search his empty pockets’.
This shows that again the people are not true and seem to be using the
man to see what they can get.
Stanza three of the poem starts on a positive note, with the
phrases: ‘feel at home’, ‘come again’, but the speaker goes on to
say that he will ‘come again,’ ‘once, twice’ but there will ‘be no
more thrice’ for then ‘I find doors shut on me’. This shows that
the people lie when they say the ‘positive phrases. Their
insincerity is reflected in the language they use.
Stanza four presents the adaptations and solutions that the man has found to
counter the problems. It starts by saying that the man has, ‘learned many things’,
already suggesting that he has changed to fit in. He tells of the false personalities or
of his ‘many faces’. He tells that he has learned to ‘wear’ these faces, suggesting
that he wears faces for different situations. For example, he says he has an ‘office-
face, street-face, and host-face, proving that he acts differently under different
circumstances. He then adds that they have, ‘conforming smiles, like a fixed
portrait’. This suggests, even more, falseness and insincerity.
In stanza five, the persona become adept at the heartless hand
shake and hollow toothy smile, plus he knows how to deceive
people with his farewells and welcomes and false politeness.

Basically he is saying that he has become an integral part of this

new culture. It's been quite an education for him.
However, in stanza six, he is not happy being a conformist. He
wants to regain a former innocence the youngster still holds. He
wants no part of this new culture and all these muting things. That
word muting means to deaden in this context.

What he wants most is to be able to laugh in innocence again - he

likens himself to a snake, his teeth hold something toxic, even
dangerous.
In stanza seven, he wants the son to show
him how to regain this lost innocence.
How to laugh and smile like in the old
days when he was young and carefree
and the culture encouraged openness and
honesty a pure identity.
 1. One of the poetic devices used is simile. The poet says that “people’s eyes
are as cold as ice”. This means that there is no warmth or real feeling in the

LITERARY
words that they say, or how they behave, thereby allowing readers to
visualize individuals who are ‘cold’ and unwelcoming akin to a block of ice.

DEVICES 2. “...with all their conforming smiles like a fixed portrait.”The poet
compares people’s smiles to that of ‘fixed portrait’ to emphasize people’s
disingenuous nature. If you think about a portrait, it is usually very formal
and stiff/fixed, even uncomfortable; therefore, the implication is that the
smiles are actually fake and stiff/fixed. They are conforming or trying to fit,
to a preconceived mould that is set up by societal expectations.

3. “I have learnt to wear many faces like dresses” the comparison between
the ‘wearing of faces like dresses’ indicates that expressions and emotions
are in-a-way disposable. Cognizant of this fact, the speaker therefore
chooses to ‘wear’ appropriate ‘faces’ for different occasions.
 4. lines 38-40 compares the persona’s laugh to a snakes. When you think of
a snake, words such as sneaky and deceitful come to mind. Therefore, the

LITERARY
implication is that the persona is fake, just like the people he/she despises.

5. Metaphor: “shake hands without hearts.” this creates an

DEVICES image/gesture that is carried out in a disingenuous manner. ‘without hearts’

suggests a lack of sincerity, but it also reveals a hidden deceit within an
individual who performs a kind gesture but his/her heart is filled with
hatred.

6. Sibilance: “so show me son...” this device emphasises the softness of the
speaker’s voice (actually being genuine) in his attempt to ‘unlearn’ the
things that made him insincere.

7. Repetition: This phrase is repeated at the beginning and the end of the
poem. This usually signals the beginning of a fairy tale. Therefore, it is
implied that the persona is nostalgic about the past.
 
 Childhood Innocence
There is no doubt that childhood innocence is at the heart of
the poem “Once Upon a Time”. In fact, the child in the
poem is a symbol of innocence, purity, enthusiasm,
happiness, and genuineness lacking in society. The child
represents the group of people who have not been affected
by Western Culture and abode by their own culture. The
speaker, having knowledge of the child’s untouched
innocence, is struck by a sense of self-loathing and regret.
He then turns to his son in his time of need and asks him to
help him unlearn whatever he has learned and helped him
regain his child-like innocence.Ultimately, the speaker
represents a group of people in society (whether it be
western culture or otherwise)who are generally
disingenuous, while the persona (the son) is the epitome of
all that is pure and unimpeachable.
Loss of innocence:
The theme of ‘loss of innocence’ is prominent in
the poem. It is make evident by the speaker’s
interaction with his son, where he feverishly
yearns to be as innocently sincere as his young
son. He wants to “unlearn all these muting things”;
this suggests that he has learnt how to behave in a
way which “mutes” or silences his real emotions.
He wants to get rid of his false laugh which
“shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs” –
the comparison with the snake’s fangs makes the
false, mask-like smile seem dangerously
deceptive. The speaker regrets the loss of his
innocence but hopes his son can teach him to
regain his childhood innocence.
 OTHER THEMES
❑ Change in time, people, society...
❑ Hypocrisy
❑ Appearance vs Reality- How
things look vs how they are.
Structure and form:

● The poem is told from a first-person perspective.

● Written in free verse (which might account for the speaker’s
distress and struggles).
● Seems natural and conversational (the speaker’s audience is
primarily his son (perhaps a pre-teen/teen).
● Dramatic monologue
Highlight the tone of the poem.
Provide line evidence to support
your responses.
Tone: The speaker’s tone is one of disappointment, largely because
he believes that he has made several wrong decisions by not being
honest with himself and instead adopting dishonest qualities seen in
society.

Mood: the poem’s mood is one of regret-- this can be deduced

based on the speaker’s conversation with his son about the things he
has done that are truly disingenuous.
 Class Activity
Write a paragraph on the board
examining the effectiveness of a
figurative in highlighting the
message of the poem.
 Individual Activity

Write a paragraph in your notebooks highlighting the

effectiveness of ANOTHER figurative device in highlighting
the message of the poem.
 Extended Activity
Research background information on the
poem and poet for the poem “Little Boy
Crying” by Mervyn Morris.