Gabriel Okara was a Nigerian poet born in 1921. This poem is a conversation between a father and son where the father expresses that people have become ingenuine and manipulate each other by wearing "masks". He describes how people now greet each other with "ice-block cold eyes" and shake hands without warmth. The father says he has learned to wear different "faces" and say things like "goodbye" when he means "good riddance". In the end, he pleads with his son to show him how to laugh and smile genuinely again like he did as a child.

1. ‘Once upon a time’
Prepare by Mehul Dodiya

2. Gabriel Okara
• Gabriel is a Nigerian Writer.
• He was born in Nigeria, in 1921.
• Okara may be describe as highly original and
uninfluenced by other poets.
• He has been extremely successful in capturing the
moods, sight and sound of Africa.
• His poems shows great sensitivity, perceptive judgment
and a tremendous energy.
• Okara also shows a concern regarding what happens
when ancient culture of Africa is faced with modern
western culture.

3. Once Upon a time…..
• First Person Narrative
• Written in Free verse
• Un-poetic
• The structure of the poem makes it seem like
he’s actually talking to his child.
• Fairy Tale
• Dialogue

4. Symbolism
• The heart symbol of Genuine emotions and
the eyes the conveyor of the same.
• The eyes are devoid of emotion and phrased
as ‘ice-block’. They appear without the
slightest trace of warmth and humanity.
• There was a time when their very greeting
was heart-felt.

5. • The Right Hand is the metaphor for the projected
intention, left hand for the intended intention.
• The left hand gropes in the empty pocket of the
speaker.
• Niceties like ‘Feel at home!’ and ‘Come again’ are
reiterated just for the sake of formalities.
• The speaker has now learned to conform to this
sophisticated world driven by calculation and
manipulation. He talk about of many faces that are
nothing but metaphors of masks and disguises
designed to suit specific needs and situations.

6. I have learned to wear many faces like dresses-
home face.
Office face, street face, host face, cocktail face
with all their conforming smiles
Like a fixed portrait smile.
• The portrait smile is a symbolic act of
something that is not felt, but done purely for
the sake of it.

7. 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.
• ‘Goodbye’ is an expression that originated from the blessing ‘God
be with you’. It’s meaning has deteriorated to ‘Good-riddance’.
• He wants to unlearn all the muting things of sophistication. He
wants relearn to smile as now the poison is becoming more obvious
with the fangs showing. The showing of the fangs emblematizes
how the people were transforming from their seeming disguise to
shameless display of iniquity.
• The symbol of the snake also points to the first sin of man.

8. Analysis of the poem
• The poem is a conversation between a father
and his son where the son does things with
emotion and the father wants to forget his
fake personality and re-learn and create real
personalities form his son.
• He is asking the son to show him how to
express true love and show real personality to
others.

9. • In the first stanza the author mentions that people
used to laugh with their heart they used to laugh with
their emotions, when they would laugh they would do
it whole heartedly and with warmth and they used to
laugh with their eyes and show pleasure with them,
and know they do it with only their teeth not with their
heart.
• ‘Ice-block-cold eyes’ is used these words emphasize the
coldness and the inner hatred they have for you like
they can freeze water with their gaza. These also make
the poem feel a bit dark and cold and a slight bit
sinister.

10. • Second stanza, he further talks about the
personalities of the people of the past he says
‘they used to shake with their hearts’ here he is
trying to say that when you would meet each
other you will shake their hands with pleasure
and with warmth and do it willingly.
• ‘While their left hands search my empty pockets’
from this we can see that they are trying to use
him from him. This also shows that the people’s
personalities are not real and true.

11. • In the third stanza he is talking about when
people ask you to come again and say ‘feel at
home’ you go there once, twice and the third
time they will not let you in thinking that you
are a pest and that they do not wanted to see
you anymore.
• This also shows that when people speak they
lie not telling the truth but just saying
something nice to grasp their heart.

12. • The fourth stanza he talk about how he has
learned to put on faces like how outfits and
masks are put on at different times, and with
different people you act differently.
• He says ‘I have learned too’ which is
suggesting that he has also changed with the
change of the people around him.

13. • ‘to laugh with only teeth’
• He says ‘I have learned to say ‘goodbye’ when I mean
‘Good-riddance’ that is pointing out to the fact that
they will, without thinking and without meaning.
• “that Glad to meet you’, meaning they did not wanted
to talk to you and they disliked your presence.
• He points out that he really wants to learn how to
laugh with emotions likes you(Child) really mean it and
he compares his laugh like that of a snake’s fangs that
shows only the teeth .

14. • This stanza sums it well by giving the image to
the reader that he is not happy and satisfied
with himself.
• The last stanza is the farther asking and
pleading to his son to show him how to laugh
and smile like he did when he was a child.