Poem 7
ONCE UPON A TIME
By- Gabriel Okara
Name: Gabriel
Okara
Birth Date: 24 April 1921
Gabriel Okara is the first significant English-language
black African poet, the first African poet to write in a modern style, and the
first Nigerian writer to publish in and join the editorial staff of the influential
literary journal Black Orpheus (started in 1957). A Nigerian
"Negritudist," he is a link between colonial poetry and the vigorous
modernist writing that began to appear in Nigeria around the time of national
independence in 1960. One of the founders of modern Nigerian and African
literature, he has also published some short stories, a translation from Ijaw,
and The Voice (1964), an experimental novel that was one of the more
interesting works to be published during the unusually creative period of the
1960s, when Nigerian literature was coming into its own, providing creative
leadership for other black African and Third World literatures.
The poem once upon a
time tells us about the emptiness of modern life. Everything we do is
artificial. Now let us study this poem.
Meaning of the new words
Cocktail
= ºÀ®ªÀÅ ¥Á¤ÃAiÀÄUÀ¼À «Ä±Àæt
Conform
= C£ÀĸÀj¸ÀÄ, ¥Á°¸ÀÄ
Fangs = ¥ÁætÂAiÀÄ ZÀÆ¥ÁzÀ ºÀ®ÄèUÀ¼ÀÄ
Muting
= ¸ÀvÀvÀªÁV §zÀ¯Á¬Ä¸ÀÄwÛgÀĪÀ
Portrait
= ¨sÁªÀavÀæ
- Answer the following questions in a word, phrase or sentence. ((These questions may be ask in MCQ)
Q.
According to Gabriel Okara people once upon a time were
True to there heart
Q.
Among other things the poet learnt_____
How to wear many faces.
Q. According
to poet man’s laughter in olden days was______
Whole hearted
Q.
What the poet wants to unlearn is______
MUTING things.
Q.
How did m an laugh in the distant past? How did He show his happiness?
In the distant past man use to laugh
whole heartedly. His happiness was showed his eyes.
Q.
How did the people shake hands in olden days? What difference now?
In the past peoples used to shake
hand whole hearted but now when the man shakes hand he will be thinking of
chanting others.
Q.
The poet’s says “I have learnt many things.” What are the many things?
The poet has learnt to wear many
faces like graces to see the situations and faces. Home faces, office faces and
street face etc…
Q.
Make a list of actions which prove you to be a good guest and a good host.
Welcoming the guest with
affection, offering him some nice drinks, offering comfortable seats, talking
to him about his family and household, listening to him more and talking to him
less, respecting his ideas, giving him nice food showing concern to his
problems, helping him to sort out his problems, visiting him often, lending him
any help he wants.
Q. What
is the difference in laughing among the people of olden days and of today?
In olden days people used to laugh
heartily. The people of today laugh only with their teeth.
Q.
How do the people of today shake hands?
The people of today shake hands
without hearts. They are eager to see what they can get from their friends
pockets.
Q.
“There will be no thrice.” What does this refer to?
When our host says come again we
may visit him the second time too. But when we visit him the third time, he
will shut the doors on us.
Q.
Why does the poet ask his son to teach him how to laugh?
Today we are living in a world
where everything is artificial. We laugh or shake hands without feeling. A
child is innocent and only he can give unadulterated expressions. So the poet
wants to learn from his son how to laugh.
Q.
What does the poem ‘Once upon a time’ tells us?
The poem ‘Once upon time’ tells us about the emptiness of modern life and everything that we do is artificial.
The poem ‘Once upon time’ tells us about the emptiness of modern life and everything that we do is artificial.
Q.
Who does the poet is speaking to in this poem?
In this poem the speaker is
speaking to his son.
Q.
Why does the poet want to learn from his son?
The poet wants to learn from his son
because he is sure that his son is innocent and free from artificial way of
dealing.
Q. How
did the poet decide to wear his faces?
The poet’s decided to wear his faces
like dresses.
Q.
How do the people laugh today according the poet?
According to the poet people today laugh
with their teeth means their laughter is expressionless.
Q. In
the poem ‘Once upon a time’ the speaker is speaking to his-
Son
Q. in
this poem the poet is criticizing –
The emptiness of modern life.
Q.
The poet has learnt to say ‘Good bye’. He actually meant –
Good riddance
Q.
The poet of ‘Once upon A time’ wants to unlearn –
All the muting things.
Q.
‘They laugh with their teeth’ means –
Their laughter is expressionless
Q.
“Their eyes search behind my shadow’ it means –
They try to look at the darker side of
me
Q.
‘Ice-cold-block’ eyes means –
Expressionless eyes.
Q.
Why does the poet want to learn from his son? Because his son –
Is innocent
Q. ‘I
have learned to wear my faces like dresses’. The figure of speech used is_____
Simile
Q.
‘My laugh in the mirror shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs’. The
figurej of speech used is_______
Simile
Q.
The mood of the poem “Once upon a time’ is predominantly________
Nostalgia
Q.
‘They used to shake hands with heart’. Identify the figure of speech:
Metaphor
Q.
‘_______with all their conforming smiles like a fixed portrait smile.’ Identify
the figure of speech.
Simile
Q.
what does the expression ‘laugh with their teeth’ means –
The expression ‘laugh with their
teeth’ means outward laughter, without expressing any sentiments, passions.
It’s only for show off and it is without genuine feelings.
Q.
when did the people use to shake hands with their hearts?
Long back, when the poet was like
his son, they used to meet one another and shake hands with human warmth.
Q.
What does the speaker want to be?
The speaker wants to be what he used
to be when he was like his innocent son.
Q.
What does he want to relearn?
The poet wants to relearn how to laugh,
because his laughter showed only his teeth like a snake’s bare fangs.
Q.
What do you think is a ‘conforming smile’? Is it the same as a ‘portrait
smile’?
One smile just to conform to social
demands. Smile is no more an expression of one’s inner happiness. One changes
smiles depending on the situation, for the society. It is same as that of the
fixed portrait smile because conforming smile is for the society, for man’s
survival. The fixed portrait smile is the creation of the artist. Both are
artificial.
Q.
What is the message of the poem?
“One should be “true to one’s self”.
People should not wear artificial faces. They should express their feelings
with natural smiles.
Q. What
is the poet disgusted with? What help does he want from his son?
The poet is disgusted with modernity
and artificial life. People laugh without heats. People greet, shake hands with
some hidden motives. He does not like people wearing different faces like
dresses. They change their smiles, artificial ones, just as changing dresses to
suit the situation. He wants his son to help him learn how to laugh. He asks
his son to show him how he used to laugh when he was like his son. He wants to
back his childhood joys and innocent laugh.
- Read the following statement s and answer the questions below.
Q
“And laugh with their eyes”
a) Who is the speaker?
The poet Gabriel
Okara
b) Who does “their” refer to?
The word ‘their’ refers to those of the
poet’s friends.
c) What does the statement convey?
The smiles
had lot of expressions through their eyes.
Q. “I
have learned to wear my faces like dresses”.
a) Who is ‘my’ in the line?
The word ‘my’ refers to the poet himself.
b) What is ‘to wear faces’ means?
Wearing faces means changing the
faces depending on the situation in the society.
c) Point out the figure of speech in the
line?
Simile
Q.
“They used to shake hands with their hearts.”
a) Who are ‘they’ refers to?
‘They’ refer to the people.
b) How do the people shake their hands
once?
Once, the people shake their hands
with warmth.
c) How do the people shake their hands
now?
Now the people shake their hand
it mechanically. While their righland shakes the other searches one’s empty
pockets. They do this with some motive.
Q.
“For then I find doors shut on me.”
a) How do the people invite the guest?
The people tell the guest to come
again and to feel at home.
b) How many times will they invite the
guests?
People will invite the guests
only twice.
c) What will happen for the third time?
The third time the door would
be shut against the guests.
d) What is opposite of the word
‘guest’?
The opposite of the word guest is
‘host’.
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