The Ball Poem - Study Notes

LEAD CARE
INSPIRE
DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL-BOPAL, AHMEDABAD

CLASS: X SUBJECT- ENGLISH
STUDY MATERIAL- (2020-21)
The Ball Poem- John Berryman
Theme
The theme of the poem is that life is precious and should not be wasted. Life has to be lived.
And life can be lived purposefully and fruitfully only when we stand up and come out of
depression.
Message
The poet John Berryman through his poem, ‘The ball poem’ has described the reality of life
which everyone has to face one day. He has touched the topic of how to stand up against the
miseries and sorrows of life. It is connected to our life and advocates the idea of harsh reality
of life...! In this poem the boy loses a ball, he considered it to be a part of him. He cannot
replace his feeling with the other ball or money.
FIGURES OF SPEECH
The ball poem is about a boy who loses his ball and afterwards is seen grieving the loss of
his ball. The ball poem has symbolism as its outstanding figure of speech. The writer uses
the ball as a symbol, where losing the ball symbolise losing his childhood that the had
cherished for long then he lost it unexpectedly.
Other Poetic devices-
1.Personification- It is a literary device in which poet associates human attributes with some
abstract ideas or an inanimate object.
e.g Merrily bouncing, down the street - The ball has been given the human quality of merrily
bouncing.
2. Imagery: It is a figure of speech that is used to create a vivid picture or image through
words. e.g- merrily bouncing
3. Repetition: Is using a word, phrases, or clauses a number of times with the purpose of
emphasis or to provide unity to the poem.
e.g ; What, what is he to do ?
Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy,
Knowing what every man must one day know

And must know many days, how to stand up
The epistemology of loss, how to stand up

knowing what every man must one day know
and must know many days, how to stand up.
4. Alliteration: It is the repetition of consonant sound in the adjacent line.
e.g- balls, balls will be lost always- use of sound ‘b’ at the start of two consecutive words
And no one buys a ball back
5. Transferred Epithet: It is a poetic device in which an adjective is used not with the noun
which it normally qualifies but with some other noun.
e.g- Shaking grief- Here, it is not the grief that shakes but the boy.
Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow.
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.
(a) How are the boy’s eyes?

(b) Why are the boy’s eyes ‘desperate’?
(c) What is the boy learning?
(d) What is the boy going to know?
(e) Who is the poet of this poem?
Solution
(a) The boy’s eyes are desperate.

(b) The boy’s eyes are ‘desperate’ because he has lost his ball.
(c) The boy is learning the meaning of loss.
(d) He is going to know the universal truth that almost all men lose something and they have
to compromise with their loss.
(e) John Berryman is the poet of this poem.
2. I would not intrude on him;

A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility
In a world of possessions.
(a) Who does the word ‘he’ refers to?

(b) Why is money or another ball worthless for the boy?
(c) How does the boy sense responsibility?
(d) What kind of a world is it?
(e) Name the poem and the poet.
Solution
(a) The word ‘he’ refers to the boy whose ball has lost.
(b) Money or another ball is worthless for the boy because he has lost something dear to him.
He is suffering from a sense of loss.
(c) He senses responsibility when his possessed ball is lost.
(d) It is a materialistic world.
(e) Poem: The Ball Poem; Poet: John Berryman.
Answer the following questions in 30-40 words:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3.“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.
4.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.
5. 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.
Answer the following in 100-120 words
1. Why is it important for everyone to experience loss and to stand up after it?
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.
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.

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LEAD CARE

DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL-BOPAL, AHMEDABAD

The Ball Poem- John Berryman

Other Poetic devices-

e.g ; What, what is he to do ?

Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy,

Knowing what every man must one day know

The epistemology of loss, how to stand up

4. Alliteration: It is the repetition of consonant sound in the adjacent line.

He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,

(a) How are the boy’s eyes?

(a) The boy’s eyes are desperate.

2. I would not intrude on him;

(a) Who does the word ‘he’ refers to?

Answer the following questions in 30-40 words:

3.“Money is external”. What does the poet mean by this expression?

Answer the following in 100-120 words

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