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Once Upon A Time Analysis

The document contains questions and responses about a poem analyzing modern society and relationships. The poet addresses their son and expresses sadness about how people no longer laugh or interact with sincerity, but rather with artificial smiles and empty gestures. The poet has learned to change their behavior to conform to society, but desires to relearn innocence and genuineness by observing their son, who represents childhood purity.

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Carmie Lactaotao Dasalla
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738 views

Once Upon A Time Analysis

The document contains questions and responses about a poem analyzing modern society and relationships. The poet addresses their son and expresses sadness about how people no longer laugh or interact with sincerity, but rather with artificial smiles and empty gestures. The poet has learned to change their behavior to conform to society, but desires to relearn innocence and genuineness by observing their son, who represents childhood purity.

Uploaded by

Carmie Lactaotao Dasalla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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i.

 What do you associate with the title of the poem?

The title clearly indicates about the past. I associate that a fairytale may be in a poetic
form. Here ‘Once upon a Time’ suggests how people were once. It is far from what is being
witnessed in the society now.

ii. What is the relationship between the narrator and the listener?

The relationship between the narrator and the listener is father and son.

iii. What happens to the poet when he visits someone for the third time?

When the poet visits someone for the third time, they will get fed up and slam the doors
shut. In other words they won’t allow him to come into their house.

iv. Pick out the expressions that indicate conflicting ideas.

The expressions that indicate conflicting ideas are “laugh with their hearts and laugh with their
eyes”, and “laugh with their teeth”. Laughing with one’s heart and eyes reveal real gladness. But
laughing with one’s teeth reveals one’s external showy love.

v. How does the poet compare his face with dresses?

The poet learnt how to change faces in different situations. Like changing dresses, he is forced to
wear facial expressions.

vi. What does the poet mean when he says ‘good bye’?

The poet has been able to change with the society. He has learnt learnt to say ‘good bye’ in an
unnatural way.

vii. What pleasantries does the poet use to fake cordiality?

In the first line of the third stanza “Feel at home!”, “Come again” the poet uses fake
cordiality. People welcome the guests for two times but the third time they will treat the guests
differently.

viii. What does he desire to unlearn and relearn?

The poet desires to learn how to say goodbye in a nice way. He desires to unlearn all the bad
habits he has picked up over the years.

ix. How is the poet’s laugh reflected in the mirror?

The poet’s laugh reflected in the mirror is like a snake’s bare teeth.

x. What does the poet long for?

The poet longs for child-like innocence.

xi. Mention the qualities the child in the poem symbolises.

Innocence and ignorance are the qualities of the child in the poem symbolizes.
3. A. Interpret each of the following expressions used in the poem, in one or two lines.

i.  laugh with their eyes

The poet means once the people laugh whole heartedly.

ii.  shake hands without hearts

The poet means nowadays people shake their hands without any involvement. They shake just
for formality.

iii.  like a fixed portrait smile

Just like people keep changing dresses to suit different occasions, the poet has learnt to behave
differently in different situations

iv hands search my empty pockets

Nowadays people introduce themselves without any involvement and they estimate other’s
value.

v.  to unlearn all these muting things

The poet wants to get rid of this false laugh showing only the teeth.

DDITIONAL APPRECIATION QUESTIONS:

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. 
a) What does the poet convey through the oft-repeated phrase, ‘once upon a time?’
 Here ‘Once upon a Time’ suggests how people behaved in the past. Maybe the poet thinks that
expecting sincerity in people’s actions is like a fairy tale, which is not real.
 b) Whom is the poet talking to? 
The poet is talking to his son.
 c) What does the poet mean by “laugh with their hearts” and “laugh with their teeth?” 
Laughing with one’s heart reveals real gladness while laughing with one’s teeth reveals one’s
external showy love. 
d) What are ‘they’ searching behind the poet’s shadow? 
Search behind one’s shadow means that people have a habit of accepting shadows rather than
accepting real people. 
e) What do you understand by ‘laughing with teeth?’ 
Laughter or smile is the outcome of happiness. When we pretend to be happy, then we smile by
showing our teeth by opening the mouth as wide as possible. 
f) How is laughing with heart different from that with teeth? 
Laughing with heart is the genuine expression of happiness and harmony. On the other hand,
laughing with teeth is fake. 
g) What does ‘ice-block-cold eyes’ suggest? 
‘Ice-block-cold eyes’ refers to people’s insensitivity and lack of gentle emotions to fellow
beings in the society. 
h) Why does the poet address the poem to his son? 
The poet is sad that he belongs to a fake society, fake expressions and smile. He doesn’t want
his son to have this hollowness of the society. So he addresses his poem to his son, in the poem.
i) What is the poet’s emotion when he says, ‘Once upon a time, son, they used to laugh
with their hearts?’ 
The poet is sad and helpless. He feels nostalgic about the lost charm of the society, once upon a
time

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. 
a) How do people shake hands without hearts?
People express fake intimacy with people they don’t like. They shake hands without hearts. 
b) What do people’s left hands do while their right hands shake hands with people? 
While shaking hands with their right hands, people send their left hands into their friends’
pockets. It means friendship and intimacy is all for selfish motives.
 
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. 
a) Why do people invite repeatedly? 
People repeatedly invite their friends but they don’t expect them to accept the invitations. They
invite without any sincerity. 
b) Why is there no ‘third time’ for the poet to feel at his host’s home? 
When the poet visits someone for the third time, the host will get fed up and slam the doors
shut. The host won’t allow the author to come into his house.
 
4. So I have learned many
things, son. 
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. 
a) What has the poet learnt about faces?
The poet has learnt how to change faces according to different situations. 
b) Why is the poet forced to wear faces? 
The poet is forced to wear faces because many people wear smiles like dresses and none is
sincere and honest.
 
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.
a) Do you think that the poet has been able to change with the society? Give an example. 
Yes, I think that the poet has been able to change with the society. He has learnt to laugh
artificially and learnt to say hello in an unnatural way.
b) What do you mean by ‘good riddance’?
It is an expression of relief at being free of any unwanted person, 
c) Mention the poetic device employed here. Explain with an example. 
The poet used Oxymoron here. It is known from the line “It’s been nice talking to you’ after
being bored.
 
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! 
a) What is the poet asking his son to teach him? Why? 
The poet is asking his son to teach how to behave as a young boy. The poet is getting tired of all
the artificial and unnatural attitude of people. 
b) Which muting things is the poet referring to? 
Laughing unnaturally and shaking hands inwardly with contempt and hatred but outwardly
with a fake smile are the muting things the poet is referring to. 
c) What made the poet’s teeth look in the mirror like those of a snake?
The artificial smile of the poet made his teeth look in the mirror like those of a snake.
 
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. 
a) Who is the speaker here? 
The poet is the speaker here. 
b) What does the poet ask his son to show?
The poet asks his son to show how to laugh and smile. 
c) What is the figure of speech employed in the last line?
when I was like you - Simile 
d) What is the message conveyed in these last lines?
The poet wants the younger generation to behave naturally and sincerely.

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