Subject Matter

02.        SUBJECT MATTER/MEANING/MESSAGE/THEME/CENTRAL IDEA:

Subject matters is what the poem is about. That is, its meaning or the massage the poet is putting across. This includes all the aspects of the message and not merely the central idea. Theme on the other hand is the central idea in the poem.

Subject matter varies from critic to critic or from analyst to analyst. There can be as many meanings to a poem as there are readers of that poem since the interpretation depend on the individual experience and exposure.

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 their hearts

While their left hands search

My empty pockets.

‘Feel at home,’ ‘come again,’

They say, and when I come

A gain and feel.

At home, once, twice

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 comforting 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.

-          Gabriel Okara.

Analyse the subject matter of the poem

 Analyse the subject matter of the poem.