In this post, I have shared the summary and question-answer of ‘’Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara’’. You will get to read a summary of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara as well as stanza wise detailed summary of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara. You can download Once upon a time by Gabriel okara summary pdf
I have added some question-answers of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara. Hope you will love it!
Table of Contents
Once upon a time poem summary
Once upon a time poem is written by Gabriel Okara who is an African poet. In this poem, the poet is sharing his life’s experiences with his son. This is a sombre, emotional poem with a strong moral message about how people change over the years and become false and untrustworthy. The poet highlights the changes in the way people used to behave in the past and how they are behaving now. The mood of the poem is nostalgia.
The poet is remembering how thing used to be when he was young and innocent like his son. The poem highlights the guilt and resentment an African man feels for himself to accept the culture of westerners. He notices a marked change in the attitude of his people those who were once so genuine, warm and sincere have now suddenly turned cold and hostile.
The poet finds that he has lost his originality and behaving in the same way as those around him to get socially accepted. The poet thinks that how to take he has become losing his identity and carrying different, a fixed expression for different occasion, as unnatural smile plastered across his face the poet says that there was genuine in the laugh of the people and now they can be seen days people great one another just for the sake of greeting and not heartily people invitee each other but not welcome.
They just show off the poet admits that he, too, makes hollow greetings and started behaving in the same way the people behaved with him the poet is not happy with himself so he wants to be like he was in his childhood. His son is not affected by the new culture so he asks his son to help him to regain his lost personality and go back to who he was. He expresses a desire to unlearn whatever he had forced himself to learn, for him to gain his sense of self back. He asks his son to help him be happy once again and acquire the childlike innocence.
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STANZA WISE SUMMARY OF ONCE UPON A TIME
Below is the stanza wise expalanation of the poem Once upon a time.
STANZA – 1
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.
In the first stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara, the poet says to his son that there is tremendous change has occurred in the behaviour of the people. Their smile was genuine. He used to laugh heartily. Now they laugh artificially having no feelings. Now their attitude has changed. The description of “laugh with their teeth” illustrates someone showing false interest. The dark imagery. “ ice-block cold eyes” which follows shows that there is no emotion or feeling in the action. They also looked at the background being uninterested in the man.
STANZA – 2
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.
In this stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara, the poet tells his son that there was a time when people meat each other heartily and shake hands with good intentions but time changes every person. All good intentions have gone now. Everybody is focusing on their personal gain. The use of a metaphor emphasizes how there is lack of trust as everybody is trying to use each other.
In those days people friendly term with others heartily but now a days people make friends outwardly and try to guess how wealthy one is before making friendship. The phrase ‘empty pockets’ could a connate that he has been stripped of all genuine happiness and has been left feeling empty and alone.
Download Once Upon a Time by Garbriel Okara Summary pdf
STANZA – 3
‘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.
In this stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara, the poet highlights the another aspect of people’s behaviors. He say that people invite others friendly but not interested in welcoming the guest heartily they just great for the shake of greeting. People invite somebody to come home, but when that man visited them then their reaction seems very different. It is like they have shut doors for that man or for any other guest. They don’t receive the guest third time.
STANZA – 4
So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – home face,
office face, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.
This stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara has been focused on how people tend to change their facial expression for different occasion people tend to have a different smile like a fixed picture that never changes. Though these times the poet tells his son that he has learnt the artificially and mechanical behavioural pattern of modern man. He has learnt to smile without any feelings and also has learnt to deal with this hard, insincere world by becoming just like all the people.
STANZA – 5
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.
In this stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara, the poet is saying that there is no true emotion in his words and feelings, and they are said with just his tongue and not his heart overall in this stanza. The poet shows how the environment has had an impact on how he behaves, how he is emotionally detached from other people, how it has destroyed his passion and how it has made his heart unfeeling. The poet has adapted to the environment around him and that he has also picked up the bad habits that are hovering around him. He has learnt to laugh without happiness and to laugh only for the shake of laughing.
STANZA – 6
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!
In this stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara, the poet tells his son who is not affected by the environment and the society yet, that how he used to feel the poet says in the first time of the stanza. But believe me son “emphasizing with regret” I want to be what I used to be, I want to unlearn all these things”. These lines describe his desperation to go back to his old innocent ways, where he felt life was very simple and his emotions were honest. It also describes his hope and desire to unlearn all the bad habits he has picked up over the years.
STANZA – 7
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.
In this stanza of Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara, the poet asks his son almost pleads with him to help him to regain the good habits he has lost and to teach him how to have true honest emotions. He expresses a desire to unlearn whatever he has forced himself to learn to adapt to the environment and society.
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Question paper and Solutions of Alternative English Class – 11
Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara Question & Answer
2/3 Marks Questions
1. What is the difference between how people laughed once upon a time and now. 2015/2017
Ans:- The poet noticed a marked change in the behavioural pattern of a modern man. He says that people used to laugh with their heart their emotions were true and genuine but nowadays they smile only with their teeth. There is no sign of geniuses in their smile. It is like they smile out of compulsion.
2. What are some of those ‘Meeting things’ which Gabriel okara says he wants to unlearn. 2015/2017
Ans:- The poet observed that he had lost his true emotions and innocence and moulded himself as per the behavioural pattern of others. He has learned to smile only with his teeth without having any feelings. He laughs only for the shake of laughing there are no true emotions in his words and feelings they are said just with his tongue and not his heart. He has emotionally detached from other people. He has learned to wearer different faces for different occasions such as office face, street face, hostface cocktail face and have a smile like a fixed photograph that never changes.
He has learned to deal with this hard, insincere world by becoming just like all people. The poet says that people great one another just for the shake of greetings. The poet resentfully admits that he, too, makes hollow greetings. He is not happy with such Hippocratic dealings. All these things the poets want to unlearn and regain good habits.
3. Give an example of hypocrisy in modern life as described by Gabriel okara. 2016
Ans:- In the poem once upon a time the poet highlights the hypocrisy of modern life. He says that now a dog’s people laugh only with their teeth and there is no sign of geniuses in their smile. They smile only for the shake of smiling. It is like they smile out of compulsion people great each other only for the shake of greeting.
4. How do people shake hands?
Ans:- The poet notices a dramatic change in the way the people behave. According to the poet, there was a time when people met each other heartily and shake hands with good intentions but time changes every person. All good intentions have gone now. Everybody is focusing on their gain. They shake hands without heart.
5. Why have the eyes of the modern man been compared to a block of ice?
Or
What does the phrase ‘Ice-block-cold eyes’
Ans:- The poet says that people have become mechanical. There is no shine and geniuses in their eyes when they smile. They laugh only for the shake of laughing. The phrase “Ice-block-cold eyes” means that there is no emotion or feelings in their action.
6. What is ironical about the invitation?
Ans:- The poet says that people great one another only for the shake of greeting and not heartily. People invite welcoming them. People invite somebody to come home but that man visited them their reactions seems to be different. It is like they shut the door for that man or any other guest. They don’t receive the guest third time.
7. Why does the poet say “Glad to meet you” without being glad?
8. What are the things that the poet want to unlearn and why?
Ans:- The poet wants to unlearn all bad habits that he has learnt from society and that has killed his true emotions and personality and has made him artificial and mechanical. He wishes to do so he has become.
9. what are the types of Faces he has learned to wear at present time?
Ans:- According to the poet people has learnt to change their facial expressions for different occasions. He has also learnt to wear different faces for different occasions such as officeface, streetface, cocktailface, hostface and have a smile like a fixed photograph.
10. What does the expression ‘laugh with their teeth’ mean?
Ans:- The expression ‘laugh with their teeth means that people do not laugh heartily. They laugh only for the shake of laughing. There is no sign of geniuses in their laugh. It is like they laugh out of compulsion.
12. Why does the poet want to learn from his son.
Ans:- The poet wants to learn from his son because his son is not affected by the environment and society. The child, however, is a picture of innocence and acts without any malice. His emotions and smile are genuine.
14. Write the central idea of the poem-Once upon a time.
Ans:- Innocence is a fading aspect of the man’s society. People always appear deceitful and cunning. The child, however, is a picture of innocence and acts without any malice or ulterior motive. The man wishes to again this innocence from his son, though he fails to realise that innocence is not learned, a state of mind. Once it is lost, it is gone forever.
4/5marks Questions
(1) State the difference Gabriel Okara brings out between the way people used to greet each other in the past and now.
Ans:- “Once Upon A Time” is a sombre, emotional poem with a strong moral message about how people change over the years and become false and untrustworthy the poet highlights the changes in the way people used to behave in the past and now.
The poet says that there is no feeling the people’s action but earlier the same people were so genuinely warm and sincere to one another. the poet feels a sense of guilt that he has emotionally detached from the people and behaves mechanically and carry plastered smile across his face. He has learned to wearer different faces for different occasions such as office face, street face, hostface cocktail face and have a smile like a fixed photograph that never changes. he has learned to deal with this hard, insincere world by becoming just like all people. The poet says that people greet one another just for the sake of greetings. The poet resentfully admits that he, too, makes hollow greetings. He is not happy with such Hippocratic dealings.
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