AN INVESTIGATION OF SELECTED POETIC DEVICES IN GABRIEL OKARA’S ‘ONCE UPON A TIME’: A MUST READ FOR ALL WASSCE LITERATURE STUDENTS OF 2026-2030 --By Dora C. John-Ohaka, An SS1 Literature Student of The Graceland Int’l School, Port Harcourt

n Gabriel Okara’s ‘Once upon a Time’,  the themes of cultural clash, cultural change, ageing and innocence, authenticity and deception are evident. The lines ‘they used to laugh with their hearts; and laugh with their eyes; but now they only laugh with their teeth’ show that before Africans were colonized, they used to show genuine love through their laughter but now they laugh with insincerity and deceit. The lines show the change in Africans’ behaviour due to the negative influence of the Westerners. These ideas are sustained by various poetic devices such as enjambment, structure, repetition, symbolism, metaphor, antithesis, etc. which are employed by the poet, some of which are explored in this article.

First, repetition is used at various points in the poem. Repetition refers to the use of an expression or phrase many times in a poem to create emphasis. It is used emphatically to address and buttress the subject matter of the poem. The expressions ‘laugh with their hearts’, ‘teeth’, and ‘son’ are repeated and, thus, emphasized. The expression ‘laugh with their hearts’ emphasizes the genuine love of Africans. ‘Laugh with their teeth’, however, depicts insincerity in their laughter. ‘Shake hands with their hearts’, which is also repeated, emphasizes the genuine friendliness of Africans. The repeated word ‘son’, a symbol and voice which remains silent throughout the poem, conveys through its silence the issue of overwhelming helplessness and despondency in the face of current African reality. These expressions emphasize the effects Africa’s cultural change brings.

Second, symbolism is cautiously employed to sustain certain meaning. Symbolism refers to the meaning representation of a word or expression. In other words, it simply refers to what a symbol refers to. A symbol itself is a significant object that culturally represents a meaning. It could be religious, social, traditional, political or even individual culture. Symbols are significantly used for meaning extension and for more vivid description. In the poem, several symbols are used like ‘face’ which symbolizes different behaviours. The word ‘teeth’ represents the insincerity of Africans. ‘Snake’s bare fangs’ represents the cunningness, deceit and wickedness of Africans after they were colonized. The father’s voice, serving as the authorial voice in the poem, symbolises the old Africa while the ‘son’, who is the unheard voice, represents the new Africa battered by the western tradition. In another vein, the ‘son’ also symbolizes innocence and purity which is why the father, after going down the memory lane, towards the end of the poem, wishes that he be like the son, meaning he wants to be pure, sincere and innocent again as he used to.

Next, the poet exploits enjambment in the poem to sustain the story. Enjambment, also known as run-on lines, refers to a situation where lines run into each other to complete their meaning. It is the use of one line to complete another to make it reasonable. Enjambment is the most used poetic device in the poem as it is seen throughout the poem. It ties up the poem into an organic whole making the poem subtly prosaic; it makes the entire poem appear in a story-like form which helps to tell the story of the past. For instance, in lines 5 and 6 which say, ‘While their ice-block cold eyes/search behind my shadow”, line 6 helps to complete the meaning of line 5 which tells us what the ice-block cold eyes do. It tells us that Africans watch others’ every move so that anything they do wrong can be used against them to bring about their downfall. In lines 42 and 43, ‘I used to laugh and smile/Once upon a time when I was like you’, line 43 helps to complete the meaning of line 42 which emphasizes when Africans used to laugh and smile before they were colonized.

Furthermore, the poet deploys metaphors to make his lines more vivid. Metaphor is the transfer of meaning from one domain to another domain in describing an entity. It is consciously employed not just to hide meaning but to make meaning more descriptive in the poem. The expression “laugh with their hearts” as used in the poem is metaphorical. Literally, people do not laugh with their hearts but with their mouths. This transfer of meaning of the domain of laughter from mouths to hearts suggests that since heart is a symbol of love, the laughter therefore is an expression of genuine love by the Africans. Similarly, “Laugh with their teeth” transfers meaning from mouths to teeth. Merely shining teeth for the sake of laughter culturally if universally symbolizes fakeness. Hence, the expression is a mere expression of formality which gives way to deception through insincere friendships. “Their ice-block cold eyes; search behind my shadow”, another metaphor with collocational clashes thus involving meaning transfers, depicts scrutiny of people to find fault in them to bring about their downfall. These expressions hide their meanings and can only be understood through analysis. They talk about the subject matter of the poem but are hidden to encourage deep thinking.

In conclusion, the use of these poetic devices helps to unite the structure of the poem. They help to buttress the subject matter of cultural clash. They help to depict the meaning of the poem along with its purpose. They are also used to make the poem a success. Enjambment is used to sustain the poem in a story-like form. Metaphor is used to interpolate words from different domains/fields, making the meaning of the poem more vivid. Repetition is used to show emphasis on the subject matter of the poem. And Symbolism is used to make meanings determinate and the poet seems to employ more of private or personal symbols than conventional symbols. These devices are all used calculatedly to display the cultural clash of the Westerners and the Africans in the poem.

I must thank The Graceland International School in its high academic standard the tutelage of which I have passed. I also thank Mr. Prince Wekpa, my literature teacher, whose literary prowess has groomed me to this excellence.