Analysis of Poem Once Upon A Time by Gabriel Okara

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Analysis of Poem Once Upon A Time by Gabriel Okara

Gabriel Okara (1921 - 2019) is considered to be one of the first modern African poets.
He was born in Nigeria and he uses folklore, religion, myth and social issues to explore
tradition and transition. His work first appeared in the magazine Black Orpheus from
1957. This poem is included in his book The Fisherman's Invocation published in 1978.

Once Upon A Time is a free verse poem that focuses on a father's attitude to cultural
change and times past, before the incoming Western culture affected the native African
way of life.

In the poem the man (presumably a father) addresses the son, telling him in a rather
nostalgic manner, how things used to be. People were different back then, more
genuine it seemed, and that is what the speaker would like to do now - return to a
restored world - if he can only learn from the youngster.

Back then people weren't after your money, they could look you in the eye and smile
real smiles. But nowadays, although the smiling teeth are on show, and they'll shake
your hand, all they want to know is your financial status.

And so the poem progresses, the early stanzas revealing more of the negative changes
that have occurred during the father's lifetime. He is old enough to have watched decent
human standards drop to the wayside as western ideals (together with capitalism)
gradually took over.

The speaker wants to relearn from the past yet untainted son; how to laugh and be
genuine again. It's rather a pathetic plea, coming from the adult to the youngster - for
what can the son realistically do? Can the clocks be put back? Can an ancient culture
be retrieved from the overwhelming modern culture?

The themes are: how society changes, cultural shift, capitalism, values.


Perhaps the tone is ironic, perhaps the speaker knows deep inside that he'll never
regain that purity, he won't be able to turn back time and relive life as a transformed
person. That's why the title could be from a fairytale; the speaker's wishes are a fantasy.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time is a free verse poem of 43 lines, broken up into 7 stanzas.

First Stanza
The first line suggests that this poem is going to be based on a story, is a kind of story
or or fairytale.

The speaker is addressing his son, so this could well be a father beginning to explain
how things used to be, how people 'they' used to laugh with their hearts and eyes. Back
in the past.

In contrast, nowadays laughter is more of a show of teeth, and the eyes are cold and
looking for something other than the real person.

So already the present is being judged by the past. And from what we can gather from
these first six lines, the speaker prefers the attitudes of the people from the past. There
is the feeling that negative change is here.

Second Stanza

The art of shaking hands has also changed. In the past a greeting was genuine, a
person welcomed for who they were. But nowadays people shake hands with one eye
on your status, your financial status.

People are no longer genuinely warm towards others. People are on the make, wanting
to get something from you.

Third Stanza

People invite you round to their homes making out as if you're important to them but if
you don't measure up socially or your status isn't quite right, you're not invited again.

The alienation continues. People nowadays are artificial and fickle because of the
change in culture.

Fourth Stanza

The first three stanzas outline the speaker's perception of changing culture and attitudes
and values in his country.

This fourth stanza describes how the speaker himself had to change and learn in order
to comply. He uses a comparison - faces to dresses - to highlight the various personas
he took on, all the while smiling.

The repeated use of face affixed to various places and situations is highly visual.

Fifth Stanza
He also has 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.

Sixth Stanza

But 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.

Seventh Stanza

He comes clean. 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, honesty, and a pure identity.

Literary/Poetic Devices in Once Upon A Time

Alliteration

When two or more words close together in a line begin with the same consonant,
creating different sound textures:

hands without hearts....these muting things....So show me, son,...when I was

Assonance

When two or more words are close together in a line and have similar sounding vowels,
again creating different sounds:

upon a time, son....like a fixed portrait smile....was like you. I want....

Caesura

A break in a line where the reader pauses, usually through punctuation:


'Feel at home! Come again.'

they say, and when I come

Enjambment

When a line runs on into the next with no stop or pause, maintaining the sense. For
example the first two lines of this stanza:

And I have learned too

to laugh with only my teeth

and shake hands without my heart.

Simile

When something is compared to a different thing, using the words like or as. For
example:

I have learned to wear many faces/like dresses -

with all their conforming smiles/like a fixed portrait smile.

like a snake's bare fangs.

What Is The Tone of Once Upon A Time?


The tone of Once Upon A Time is nostalgic and perhaps a little ironic. The speaker
dearly wishes to relearn how to smile a genuine smile again, how to laugh without
pretension - but will he really be able to learn from the youngster?

The speaker is earnest, he clearly wants to get back to a time he perceives as pure and
innocent and good...in the old African culture, before the Western values crept and took
over.

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