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    A Brief Biography About The Author Poet

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    Asela Jayarathna

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    A Brief Biography About The Author Poet

    Uploaded by

    Asela Jayarathna
    40 views2 pages

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    A Brief Biography About the Author Poet

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    40 views2 pages

    A Brief Biography About The Author Poet

    Uploaded by

    Asela Jayarathna

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    ONCE UPON A TIME

    A Brief Biography about the Author / Poet

    Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara (born April 21, 1921, in Bumodi, Nigeria) is a Nigerian poet
    and novelist who may be pronounced as highly original and uninfluenced by other poets. He has
    been extremely successful in apprehending the moods, sights and sounds of Africa. His poems
    show great sensitivity, perceptive judgements, and tremendous energy. Okara also shows a
    concern on the topic of what happens when the ancient culture of Africa is faced with modern
    western culture.

    Themes
    1. Appearance versus reality (Fake affection)
    2. Change that comes through exposure to other cultures
    3. Adaptation to new ways of life
    4. Innocent childhood versus adulthood

    Poetic Techniques
    1. Slow Paced. The poem moves at a slow pace. The poem uses repetition and quotations
    to maintain a sense of deliberateness throughout the poem
    2. Personal monologue explaining personal experiences. The entire poem has the man
    talking to his son. The son remains mute throughout the entire poem. The man explains
    to his son about the change that has taken place in African society and asks him to help
    him to change himself.
    3. First Person Narrative. The poem is in the first person narrative and the poet uses the
    word ‘I’ to depict an autobiographical narration by the man.
    4. Begins on a negative tone and ends with a positive one. The man complains and laments
    on the change he sees in his culture as well as himself. But at the end, he still sees the ‘ray
    of light’ in his son, who has not been affected by this negative change and asks him to
    help him to regain his child-like innocence once again.
    5. Analysis of the title. The title of the poem, 'Once Upon A Time', has special relevance to
    the beginning of every fairy tale, like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel,
    and others. It was probably chosen by Okara, as the man in the poem expresses his desire
    to go, 'back in time', and regain his child-like innocence.
    Appreciation

    Gabriel Okara’s Once Upon A Time is about the artificiality of relationships and manners
    prevailing in the present-day world. The past, according to the poet, is better than the present;
    because there was love, sincerity and faithfulness in the past. Now that in the present,
    everything has changed. Hence the poet wants to relive the past.

    Once upon a time, people used to laugh with their hearts and eyes. That is, there was
    genuineness in what they said and did. But in the present, there is only outward ‘teeth laugh’
    without understanding the speaker’s real self. The eyes are described as ‘ice block – cold’. The
    people have become money-minded and naturally develop their relationships with the rich.
    Even when shaking hands with others, they are very artificial and hence mechanical.

    Guests are no longer welcome these days. They are given a warm reception only once. If they
    visit their friends or relatives thrice or more number of days, the doors are shut on them. In this
    material and artificial world, the poet has learnt many things – especially wearing many faces
    like putting on many dresses. One must have ‘home face’, ‘office face’, ‘cocktail face’ and so on.
    All are fixed just like the portrait smile. As this is the way of the world, the poet – speaker has
    also learnt laughter with teeth; the art of saying 'goodbye’ when he means ‘Good riddance’;
    ‘Glad to meet you’ when he is not glad; and ‘Nice talking to you’ when bored.

    The poet wants to be like his son with all exemplary conduct. He himself becomes the victim of
    the present showing ‘the fangs of a snake’. Towards the end of the poem, the poet appeals to
    his son to show him how to smile wholeheartedly. Desire to relive the past is nothing but a
    yearning for innocence, faithfulness and sincerity. The poem is written as though a father were
    talking to his son.

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