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What learning is Gabriel Okara referring to in his poem Once Upon a Time And I have learned too To laugh with only my teeth and shake hands without my heart I have also learned to say Goodbye?
Wiki User
∙ 7y ago
The full poem by Gabriel Okara is:
Once Upon a Time
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.
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.
‘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.
So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.
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.
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!
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.
The "learning" is about putting on different masks and not expressing genuine feelings.
Wiki User
∙ 7y ago
In the poem "Once Upon a Time" by Gabriel Okara, the learning referred to is the process of adapting to a world where true emotions and sincerity have been replaced by superficial expressions like laughter with only teeth and shaking hands without the heart. The speaker has learned to navigate these insincere gestures and has also learned the appropriate response of saying "Goodbye" in such a world.
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of Learn, Of or pertaining to learning; possessing, or characterized by, learning, esp. scholastic learning; erudite; well-informed; as, a learned scholar, writer, or lawyer; a learned book; a learned theory.
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