NCERT 10 English : The Ball Poem

 

The Ball Poem

About the Poet

John Berryman was an American poet, best known for the Dream Songs poems. He won Pulitzer Prize

Introduction to the lesson

John Berryman through his poem has described the reality of life which everyone has to face one day or the other. There is hardly anyone who does not lose something or other that he holds dear to him. One should learn to overcome the grief and accept the loss with grace and go ahead in life.

The Ball Poem Summary

The poet is talking about a little boy who has lost his ball while playing near the harbour. The ball bumped on the road and fell into the water. The ball was lost. The boy was struck with grief at the loss. He was desperate. He always used to play with the ball and had pleasant memories associated with the ball. The ball was his valuable possession. He could get another ball for a small price, but this ball had many of his childhood memories associated with it and replacing it was not easy.

The poet says that he could console him and offer him another ball. The poet decided not to do that because this experience to overcome grief when something is lost would teach him a lesson which could be of value in his life ahead. He further says that the time has come for the boy to learn his responsibilities.

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 .use of word ‘ball’

Asyndeton: no use of conjunction in a sentence (A dime, another ball, is worthless)

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)

Rhyme scheme: There is no rhyme scheme followed in the poem.

 

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. Offering money or another ball would not help to learn about life. 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?

 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 childhood..

Q3- What does “in the world of possessions” mean?

-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?

 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?

 The poet means that the boy will learn the real truth of life. He will learn how to move on in life despite heavy losses. Everyone experiences this in his/ her life when they lose something or someone. This harsh reality that lost things never come back make people strong enough to live their life by accepting realities of life.