English - Lesson 25: (TMA) "Once Upon a Time " - A poem by Gabriel Okara

 

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, son,

they used to laugh with their hearts

and laugh with their eyes:

but now they only laugh with their teeth,

while their ice-block-cold eyes

search behind my shadow.

The poet tells his son about the behaviour of people in the past and in the present, in the olden days and in the modern world. He remembers a time when people had true feelings for one another who laughed and spoke face to face looking at their eyes. They would laugh from the heart and meet one another with genuine feeling.

In present times, people laugh formally by showing their teeth and eyes without any warmth of feeling. People have inculcated a habit of accepting shadows rather than accepting real people.

There was a time indeed

they used to shake hands with their hearts:

but that’s gone, son.

Now they shake hands without hearts:

while their left hands search

my empty pockets.

  But today in the modern, busy world people often greet each other without any warmth in their handshake. They greet each other with a smile or a laugh that does not reach their eyes or warm their hearts. The people who greet searches the empty pockets of the poet with their left hands and gets disappointed when they don't find any money to make them spend.

‘Feel at home’! ‘Come again’:

they say, and when I come

again, and feel

at home, once, twice,

there will be no thrice –

for then I find doors shut on me.

When they say ‘come again’ to a guest they don’t really mean it, they only say it to be polite. According to the poet, people these days are often interested in meeting people only if they are rich, powerful, successful or famous, and do not value or respect those who have no wealth or position.

So, I have learned many things, son.

I have learned to wear many faces

like dresses - homeface,

officeface, streetface, hostface,

cocktail face, with all their conforming smiles

like a fixed portrait smile.

We learn this behaviour so well that our natural behaviour slowly disappears, and in each different situation we behave in the way that is considered appropriate for that situation. The poet says that he behaves very differently in the office (wears an office face), compared to the way he behaves at a party (wears a host face), or on the street (wears a street face). And none of these different faces that he puts on is his natural self or his real face but merely a mixture of gestures (wears a cocktail face) which depicts only a portrait of my smiling face.

And I have learned too

to laugh with only my teeth

and shake hands without my heart.

I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye’,

when I mean ‘Good-riddance’;

to say ‘ Glad to meet you’,

without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been

nice talking to you’, after being bored.

He says that he has also learnt to say things that he doesn’t really mean, because they are the correct things to say in that situation.

For example, when we are introduced to someone we are taught to say, “Glad to meet you.” So, the poet says that he too sometimes politely greets a person in this way even though he may not be interested in meeting him or her. The poet feels sad that like other adults in today’s world he has forgotten how to be a natural person.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be

when I was like you. I want

to unlearn all these muting things.

Most of all, I want to relearn

how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror

shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

The poet has a deep desire to go back to the innocence of childhood. He is dissatisfied with his own changed self. He thinks that his son’s genuine laughter can teach him how to express his feelings honestly. He wants to relearn how to behave in a natural way. He wants to get rid of the falseness in his behaviour that makes his laugh unpleasant, because he laughs with his lips and teeth and not with his eyes and heart.

So show me, son,

how to laugh; show me how

I used to laugh and smile

once upon a time when I was like you.

The poet wants his son to show his laughing innocent childish face alike the same, he used to be laughing and smiling once upon a time when he was a child like his son.

– Gabriel Okara

Now, Let's listen to the poem again

Terminal Questions

I. Based on your understanding of the poem, match the following expressions/phrases with their meanings. 

Please note there are extra options in the meaning column.

Expression/                                        Phrase Meaning

1. laugh with their hearts (f)   a. to feel comfortable.

2. laugh with their teeth (g)    b. one is no longer welcome if he/she visits someone                                                             very often.

3. shake hands without their hearts (h) c. people can change their expressions to                                                                                 suit different occasions.

4. shake hands with heart (e)       d. relationship are measured in terms of how much                                                             money/ power one has.

5. hands search my empty pockets(d)    e. a handshake that conveys feelings.

6. feel at home   (a)                                  f. laughter that is natural.

7. there will be not thrice  (b)                g. laughter that is artificial.

8. learned to wear many faces  (c)       h. a handshake that does not show like dresses                                                                 warmth but a routine formality.

9. like a fixed portrait smile (l)               i. I am happy and content.

10. I want to unlearn all these (j)           j. I wish to forget modern trends and return                                                                         muting things to a more natural style of living.

                                                                k. laughter resembles roar of a tiger.

                                                                l. a smile which remains fixed and does not                                                                             change with personal feelings and moods.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What has the poet forgotten and what is his desire?

The poet has forgotten his true, natural self. He wants to get back to his state of

innocence when he was open and honest about expressing his feelings and thoughts.

2. In today’s world it is often difficult to know what to believe and what not to

believe. What you see is often not the reality. Explain.

People in modern society say and do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals and ambitions even if there is no genuine feeling in their actions and words. As a result, the actions and words are often completely the opposite of the thoughts and feelings of the person doing the actions and saying the words. Hence it is difficult to know the reality and to know what to believe and what not to believe.

3. The father and son in the poem represent two different periods of time. Elaborate.

The father as an adult stand for the modern period in which people are false and insincere and artificial. The son is a child and represents the old days when people were natural and honest and childlike.

4. Which time according to you is better? Why?

5. By addressing his son who is the poet also addressing?

By addressing his son, the poet is actually addressing all the adults of the modern world who have lost their innocence and are artificial and sometimes heartless in their behaviour. He is trying to tell them to relearn from their children how to be natural and honest and sincere.

III. When we use humour, irony, sarcasm or exaggeration to criticize someone or something, it is called satire. The poem is a satire on modern society. With the help of examples from the poem support this statement.

The poem is a satire on the falseness in modern society. The poet expresses this by using contradictions and interesting expressions such as people ‘laugh only with their teeth’, shake hands without hearts’, ‘their left hands search my empty

pockets’. By using expressions such as ‘wear many faces’ to show that people behave

differently and have different attitudes in different situations and with different people instead of being one’s true self the poet brings out that people in modern society are like actors changing masks on a stage and acting in a play. There is no connection between their actions and their feelings. This is a serious problem in modern society, but the poet criticizes it in the true style of a satire.

I. Answer the following questions with reference to the lines in the following

stanzas:

1. Stanza 1.

“Once upon a time ________ my shadow”

a. Who does the word ‘they’ refer to?

The word ‘they’ refers to people in modern times.

b. What effect does the poet create by using the phrase ‘once upon a time’?

By using the phrase ‘Once upon a time’ the poet indicates that he is talking about something that happened a long time ago. The phrase ‘Once upon a time’ also makes the beginning of the poem sound like the poet is telling his son a story.

c. How can a person laugh with his eyes and heart?

When we laugh heartily and with true feelings, it gets reflected in our eyes.

d. What human behavior is being discussed in this stanza?

Human behaviour, which is false, formal, and artificial is being discussed in this

stanza.

2. Stanza 2.

“There was a time ________ my empty pockets.”

a. What do the words “there was a time” refer to?

The words denote a time long past.

b. What happened at that time?

At that time people greeted each other with real pleasure and happiness because

they had true feelings for one another.

c. ‘…while their left hands search…’. What do they search? What is the significance of this ‘search’?

The search signifies that when a person is introduced to the poet, he/she shakes the

poet’s hand in greeting, and at the same time he/she tries to find out if the poet is

rich or poor.

d. Based on the poem’s context what do you think will be the reaction of people who search the poet’s pockets and find them empty.

3. Stanza 3.

“Feel at home __________ doors shut on me.”

a. What does the expression ‘feel at home’ mean? Does the poet ‘feel at home’ in the situation he describes in this stanza?

The expression ‘feel at home’ means to feel comfortable. No, the poet does not

feel comfortable in the situation he describes in this stanza. He finds that he is not

welcomed if he/she becomes a frequent visitor, even though he is told to ‘feel at

home’ and to ‘come again’.

b. Which words or expressions are used by the poet to indicate that repeated visits are not welcome.

‘I find doors shut on me.’

c. Have you ever experienced a situation in which you believed completely in someone who offered to help you or promised something to you. Later you realized that he/she did not mean it? How did you feel when this happened to you? If this has not been your personal experience, imagine how would you

feel if you were let down.

4. Stanza 4.

“So, I have learnt ……………. like a fixed portrait smile.”

a. What has the father learnt?

The father has learnt to wear many faces. This means that he has learned to act or behave according to the need of each situation, and not according to his own natural feeling.

b. Explain “Like a fixed portrait smile.”

According to the poet, when adults smile it is often as a formality. The smile is

without any feelings or expression like the smile in a picture or a painting.

c. What do the different faces stand for?

The different faces stand for the different ways in which a person conducts

himself/herself, dresses, behaves or speaks to suit the different situations he/she has to face.

5. Stanza 5.

“And I have learned too ……………after being bored.”

a. Mention the other things that the father has learnt.

The father has also learnt to say things which are the exact opposite of his real

feelings and of what is in his heart. He has learnt to use pleasant words without

meaning them at all, or with unpleasant and unkind thoughts going on in his

mind.

b. Which learnings by the father refer to emotionless relationships?

To laugh only with his teeth, to shake hands without his heart.

c. Select any two phrases that show the contrast between intention and action.

i. to say ‘goodbye’ for ‘good riddance’.

ii. to say ‘glad to meet you’ without being glad.

iii. to say ‘it’s been nice talking to you’ after being bored.

6. Stanza 6.

1. What does the father wish for in stanza 6?

The father wishes he could once again be what he used to be. He wishes to be his true self again.

2. In stanza 6 the teeth have been compared to _______.

In Stanza 6 the teeth have been compared to a snake’s bare fangs.

3. What does the simile “like a snake’s bare fangs” bring to your mind? Explain what the poet means when he uses this simile in stanza 6.

A laugh that shows the teeth like a snake’s bare fangs brings to mind a laugh that is

without real feeling. It brings to mind a person whose laugh is falsely pleasant and

therefore, dangerous and deceptive like a snake. The poet uses this simile to show that he has forgotten to laugh with real feeling and pleasure. When he laughs, he does not laugh with his eyes and heart but only by showing his teeth.

7. Stanza 7.

4. What does the father ask his son to do in stanza 7 and why?

The father asks his son to show him the way to be simple, honest, natural and innocent.

He wants his son to help him to find his old self, because his son is a child and children are completely natural.

5. The word ‘relearn’ has ‘re’ as a prefix. Combine the prefixes in column A with the words in column B below to form new words. Make sure each prefix is used only once.

A ----B

re ---timely (untimely)

de ---literate (illiterate)

un ---activate (deactivate)

il--- form (reform)