Class X-First Flight Poem-5 (First Flight) " The Ball Poem" - by John Berryman

The Ball Poem

by John Berryman

 

About the Poet

John Berryman was an American poet and scholar. He is best known for the Dream Songs (1969) which was a sequence of 385 poems. He won Pulitzer Prize for the dream songs. He also won National book award.

Central Idea of the Poem

The poet, John Berryman in The Ball Poem’ describes the grief of a boy over the loss of his ball. With that loss he senses his first responsibility in a materialistic world; where those whom you love and your worldly possessions will not be with you forever. The poem shows how, all through your life, you will be forced to do things that you don’t want to do and you will lose or have to give up the things, that you love. But, despite this, you have to learn to stand up, to be strong and get on with your life – no matter how much it hurts inside. Because that is the only way you will survive. It thus, teaches us to learn to accept and let go and not cling onto something that you can never have.

 Summary

The poet is talking about a little boy who has lost his ball. He was playing with his ball. The ball skipped from his hand and went into the nearby water body. The poet says that this sight of the boy losing his favorite ball made him think about the boy and his reaction to this situation. He further says that the boy was helplessly looking into the water where his ball had gone. He was sad and was trembling with fear. He got so immersed in his sorrow that he kept standing near the harbour for a very long time and kept on looking for his ball. The poet says that he could console him that he may get new balls or he could also give him some money to buy another ball. But he stops himself from doing so because he thinks that the money may bring a new ball but will not bring the memories and feelings attached to the lost ball. He further says that the time has come for the boy to learn his responsibilities. Here the poet wants to say that now the boy will learn the toughest lesson of life. The lesson of accepting the harsh realities of life that one day we will lose our loved ones and our loved things.

Explanation of Poem

Stanza 1

What is the boy now, who has lost his ball,
What, what is he to do? I saw it go                         
Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
Merrily over — there it is in the water!

WORD MEANINGS
Merrily: cheerful
Bouncing: jumping up and down

EXP-The poet is talking about a boy who has lost his ball. He wants to know about him and his reaction because he has lost his ball. Further, he asks to himself that what this boy will do after losing his ball. The poet has seen the ball going away from the boy. He says that the ball was cheerfully jumping up and down in the street. This means that when the ball skipped from boy’s hand it went into the street and later on, it fell into the nearby river.
Literary devices:
Anaphora: -use of repeated words in two or more lines (What is the boy… what, what and merrily bouncing… merrily over)
Assonance:- repeated use of vowel ‘o’ (boy, now, who, lost)
Imagery:- when poet says merrily bouncing down the street
repetition:- ‘what’ is repeated

Stanza 2

No use to say ‘O there are other balls’:
An ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down 
All his young days into the harbour where
His ball went. I would not intrude on him;
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility

WORD MEANINGS

Grief: sorrow
Rigid: fixed
Trembling: shaking
Harbour: dock, port
Intrude: invader
Dime: 10 cents (U.S)
Worthless: valueless, useless

 EXP-The poet says that there is no benefit of consoling the boy by saying that he will get another ball because he has other balls too. He says so because the boy is feeling very sad. He is completely surrounded by sorrow.  He is sad because all the memories of the childhood days went down the harbour with the ball. Here the poet says that the boy is very sad as the ball which has now gone into the water reminds him of those sweet memories, of the times when he owned it. This loss is unbearable for him and he is grief stricken. The poet says that he can’t even tell the boy to take some money from him in order to buy another ball. He says so because the new ball will not bring the sense of belonging to the boy. Further, the poet says that the time has come for the boy to learn the responsibility of taking care of his things. 

Literary devices:-
Repetition:- use of word ‘ball’
Asyndeton:- no use of conjunction in a sentence (A dime, another ball, is worthless)

Stanza 3

In a world of possessions. People will take
Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.
And no one buys a ball back. Money is external.

He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,
The epistemology of loss, how to stand up
Knowing what every man must one day know
And most know many days, how to stand up.

WORD MEANINGS

Possessions: ownership

External: Here, things with which feelings are not attached
Desperate: hopeless
Epistemology: The Greek word episteme means ‘knowledge’

Exp- Here the poet says that the boy has to learn that in this materialistic world, many of his belongings will be lost. He personifies the ball as his belongings, be it the worldly things or the relationships he is in possession of. So, he says that he has to learn to live without them no matter what. He says no one can buy back such things for him. The poet said so because according to him money can’t buy you everything. If it does buy you some materialistic thing, still, it will not be able to buy the sense of belongingness. He says that the boy is learning how to stand up against the sense of lost things. This means that the boy is trying to learn the real truth of life which states that you have to accept the miseries of life and stand up again. This is the truth which everyone has to learn in his or her life. The harsh truth of standing up against the odd miseries of life that everyone has to bear.

Literary devices:
Alliteration:- use of sound ‘b’ at the start of two consecutive words (buys a ball back)
Assonance:- use of vowel sound ‘e’ (He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes)
Repetition:- ‘ball’ word is repeated
Rhyme scheme:- There is no rhyme scheme followed in the poem.

 

TEXT BOOK - Questions and Answers

Q1-Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?
A1- The poet does not want to intrude so that the boy can get a chance to learn the real truth of life. He has to learn to accept the loss. The loss here means the most important thing or relationship.

 

Q2- “… staring down/All his young days into the harbour where/His ball went …” Do you think the boy has had the ball for a long time? Is it linked to the memories of days when he played with it?
A2- Yes we can say that the boy had the ball for a very long time. The line itself describes how the boy recalls those days when he used to play with the ball. The ball was surely linked to some sweet memories of his playing with the ball.

 

Q3- What does “in the world of possessions” mean?
A3-In the world of possessions means that the world is full of materialistic things. Materialistic things are those things which bring comfort and luxury in our life.

 

Q4- Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the words that suggest the answer?
A4- The line in the poem “now he senses his first responsibility’ helps us to know that the boy has not lost anything before.

 

Q5- What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words?
A5- The poet means that the boy will learn the real truth of life. He will learn how to move on in life despite of incurring heavy losses. Everyone experiences this in his/ her life when they lose either something or someone. This harsh reality that lost things never come back make people strong enough to live their life by accepting this truth of life.

Extract Based Questions

Read the following extracts and answer the questions/complete the sentences that follow:
Question 1. What is the boy now, who has lost his ball, 
What, what is he to do ? I saw it go Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then Merrily over-there it is in the water !
(a) The boy has lost ………. .
(b) It fell down …….. .
(c) At the loss of his ball the boy felt ………. .
(d) The boy saw the ball go.
Answer: (1) to learn good habits.
(b) Amanda’s mother.
(c) straight.
(d) Robin Klen.

Question 2. An ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy 
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down.
All his young days in to the harbour where His ball bent I would not intrude on him,
A dime another ball, is worthless. Now He senses first responsibility
In a words of possessions.
(a) The boy is in grief because his ball has been …… .
(b) The boy feels trouble and stands rigid because he is thinking about his ……. .
(c) The poet does not offer to give him the new ball because he wants to teach him the value of …….. .
(d) The boy senses first responsibility in …….. .

Answer: (a) lost
(b) days when he was young.
(c) responsibility
(d) Words of possession

Question 3. His ball went. I would not intrude on him; 
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now He senses first responsibility In a world of possessions.
(a) Where did the ball go ?
(b) The poet does not want to interfere as he wants the child …….. .
(c) This will help the child in understanding his ……. .
(d) Giving another ball to the child is ……. .

Answer: (a) The ball went into the water.
(b) to learn to bear the loss.
(c) responsibility.
(d) Worthless.

 Question 4. I would not intrude on him,
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now He sense first responsibility In a world of possessions.
(a) Why is another ball worthless for him ?
(b) The loss of the ball teaches the boy …….. .
(c) ‘A world of possessions’ means ……… .
(d) The poet does not want to ……. . 

Answer: (a) Another ball is worthless for him because he wanted the one which has been lost.
(b) the sense of responsibility.
(c) The world of materialism.
(d) interfere on the child.
OR
(a) Who would not intrude ?
(b) Whose eyes are desperate ?
(c) The word “intrude” in the above given extract means ………. .
(d) The poet senses.
(a) The poet would not intrude.
(b) The boys eyes are desperate.
(c) To go/interfere into something/matter forcefully.
(d) a world of possession.

Question 5. The epistemology of loss, how to stand up Knowing what every man must one day know And most know many days, how to stand up.
(a) The boy has lost ……. .
(b) The lost has taught the boy ……… .
(c) The word ‘epistemology’ means …….. .
(d) According to the poet every man. 

Answer: (a) his ball.
(b) the sense of responsibility.
(c) study of knowledge.
(d) should know how to succeed.

Short Answer Type Questions 

Question 1. What is the deep meaning hidden in the poem “The Ball Poem ?
Answer: The deep meaning of the poem is that our childhood can quickly fly as a ball is lost. Also me grow up unsuspect¬edly and face hardships like loss.

Question 2. What is the boy’s state of mind at the loss of his ball ?
Answer: The boy is very disturbed at the loss of his ball. He keeps staring at the ball with his desperate eyes.

Question 3. Pick out the words that suggest that the boy has not lost anything earlier.
Answer: The words that suggest that the boy has not lost anything earlier are “He senses first responsibility in a world of possessions.”

Question 4. What does John Berryman want to convey through this poem? 
Answer: Poet, John Berryman wants to convey the importance of loss and responsibility in life. We all should learn our responsibility and how to cope up with the loss.

Question 5. How does the boy feel at the loss of his ball?
Answer: The boy is very much troubled at the loss of his ball. He experiences grief at the loss of his much loved possession. Like a statue, he keeps staring at the ball with his desperate eyes.

Question 6. Write the sum and substance of the poem “The Ball Poem”. 
Answer: In “The Ball Poem”, Berryman tells us about how our childhood can quickly fly by, as quickly as a ball is lost and how we sometimes unsuspectingly must grow up and face hardships, like loss.

Question 7. “Money is external”. What does the poet mean by this expression? 
Answer: The poet makes the boy understand about his responsibility as the loss is immaterial. Money is external as it cannot buy memories, nor can it replace the things that we love, the things that really matter.

Question 8. Why does the poet think that it is useless to give the following suggestion to the boy?
‘No use to say- ‘O there are other balls’:
Answer: According to the poet, it is useless to console the boy by saying that he can get another ball in place of the lost one. The boy had a long association with the ball. It was, thus, useless to give him such a suggestion because he wanted to get back the ball that he had lost.

Question 9. Why did the poet not offer the boy money to buy another ball? 
Answer: The poet watched the boy who had plunged in grief at the loss of his ball. He did not offer the boy money • to buy another ball. He felt that another ball could not console the boy. It seemed that the boy had the ball for a long time. The poet also wanted the boy to realise the epistemology of loss.

Question 10. Why did the boy feel so sad at the loss of his ball?
Answer: When the boy lost the ball, he plunged in grief. He stood staring down the harbour where his ball was lost. The boy was affected profoundly by the loss of his ball because it had been with him for a long time. It was linked to the memories of the days when he played with it.

 

Long Answer Type Question

Question 1. Elaborate the idea that one should learn to accept and let go and not stick to something that we can not have.
Answer: It is important for everyone to experience to accept the loss and be bold and get on with life. Staying strong is the only way to survive. One should understand that the past is gone and will never came back. Sometimes loss helps us to grow up and we are able to face hardships like loss. We also learn to accept and let go and do not stick to something which we can not have.

Question 2. Why is it important for everyone to experience loss and to stand up after it ? [CBSE2014]
Answer: It is important for everyone to experience loss and to stand up after it in order to be strong and to get on with life. One
needs to stay strong no matter how much it hurts inside. Staying strong is the only way to survive. Moreover, one needs to learn to accept and let go and not cling to something that they can never have. One should understand that the past is gone and it will never come back. Experiencing loss sometimes helps us to grow up and face hardships, like loss. This helps us in breaking all the boundaries into freedom.