Once upon time poem short central idea
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In the poem “Once upon a time” the writer reminisces about a time when people were honest and loving towards one another. He speaks regretfully about the present time, dwelling about the fact that people have changed too much. The writer emphasises on two main themes of innocence and experience, and how over time, both of them have evolved into something other. The poem begins on a line of “Once upon a time, son”. From this, we can immediately tell that this is a father having a conversation with his son, about something which he deems important for him to know. This use of a classic fairy tale opening implies that what he is about to tell his son is so far-fetched, it may not even be believed. This further implies that honesty in expressing emotion is so rare nowadays, that it is virtually a fairy tale.
Further on, the poet creates a contrast between ‘hearts’ and ‘faces’, by saying that “they used to shake hands with their hearts” but nowadays they only “laugh with their teeth and shake hands without my heart”. This imagery is used to describe that there was once a time when they shook hands with emotion and love, whereas now, they have become “ice-block-cold” who show no emotion, who “search beyond my shadow”.
Moreover, in the last stanza, the father mourns over the loss of his innocence, saying that he wants to forget all the ways which he has learnt to silence his emotions. “Unlearn all these muting things”, this suggests that he wants to get rid of his ‘false laugh’ and ‘many faces’ because he believes that letting go of these he will regain his innocence. Throughout the whole poem, the father is teaching the son how to learn from his mistakes. However the end line “Once upon a time when I was like you” juxtaposes this idea, implying that in real life there are no happy endings, and the father doesn’t want to give the child ‘false hope’ because overall, life is tough.