The Ball poem

Question 1

Describe the recovery of loss in this poem.

Answer 1

But there comes a change in his mood and thinking. He realises that in this world the loss is the part of the game. He must take such losses in life in his stride. Achievements will follow losses in life. And a thing that is lost once can’t be retrieved or brought back. Money can’t buy the lost childhood, the lost dreams and the lost feelings back. Money is external to such losses.

Question 2

Message conveyed in the poem

Answer 2

The poet gives a message of hope and encouragement. Ultimately, he comes out of his depression and hopelessness. He has to learn how he should stand up to bear the loss. 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.

Question 3

What is teh style of teh poem.

Answer 3

The poem uses a good combination of tone, imagery and symbolism. In the beginning, the tone is depressing. It depicts a scene where a young boy has lost his ball when it is bounced into the harbour. The loss of the ball symbolises the loss of innocence and childhood. Like childhood, the lost ball can’t be retrieved. The tone in the end changes giving an encouraging message that life should be lived as it is and we should move on with the changing time. The poem is in the free verse as it suits its tone and content.

Question 4

Describe the Central Idea of the poem

Answer 4

‘The Ball Poem’ looks like a simple story of a young boy losing his ball. The boy is severely upset over the loss. Normally, it may seem like a great overreaction. Children lose things like their toys and balls quite often. Usually, no fuss should be made about such a small thing. But the ball seems to be symbolising the poet’s childhood. The boy becoming an adult loses his childhood. He was clinging onto his childhood for so long. The poet accepts the changes in his life. Although he is still suffering yet he is learning to move on from his fleeting childhood. The true theme of the poem is that we should cherish every moment of life. Life is really very short. The poet realises that it is very difficult to deal with the loss but it must be done. We should move on as there is no use in wasting precious time and life.

Question 5

Who loses his ball?

Answer 5

the boy

Question 6

Where has the boy lost his ball?

Answer 6

in the water

Question 7

How does the boy feel when he loses his ball?

Answer 7

Confused, shaken, trembling

Question 8

What does the poet say about money?

Answer 8

external

Question 9

What does the poet say about this world is made of?

Answer 9

possessions

Question 10

The boy remembers his days.

Answer 10

young

Question 11

What could the poet buy for the boy?

Answer 11

ball

Question 12

How are the boy’s eyes?

Answer 12

desperate

Question 13

What meaning is the boy learning?

Answer 13

meaning of loss

Question 14

Who is the poet of the poem `The Ball Poem’?

Answer 14

John Berryman

Question 15

Express your views on the title of the poem, ‘The Ball Poem’.

Answer 15

When one reads the title ‘The Ball Poem’, one assumes that the poem may be a light-hearted one but perhaps about the joys of childhood. We must not feel disheartened, dejected and desperate but try to stand up and bear the loss through self-understanding.

Question 16

A ball is an easily available, inexpensive thing. Then, why is the boy so sad to lose it?

Answer 16

No doubt the ball is an easily available and inexpensive item but the ball, the boy has lost is valuable for him. His memories of young days are associated with it for he had been playing with it for a long time. It was not an ordinary but special a ball for him. No other ball could take its place. So, he is sad to lose it.

Question 17

What shows that the ball was valuable for the boy?

Answer 17

The ball was valuable for the boy is obvious (clear) from the way he reacts after losing it He was shocked, remained fixed, trembled with grief staring at the place where the ball had fallen. All this shows that he loved the ball and it was valuable for him.

Question 18

‘He senses first responsibility’—what responsibility is referred to here?

Answer 18

The responsibility referred to here is how to stand up or bear the loss through self-understanding and trying to console oneself on his own as the boy who lost his ball was trying to do.

Question 19

Why did the poet not console the boy?

Answer 19

The poet did not console the boy for two reasons—One, the boy was too shocked and grief-stricken to listen to any sense. Second, the poet also observed that the boy was trying to stand up or bear the loss on his own through self-understanding which is much more reflective and lasting. The poet’s or anybody else’s consoling would not be that effective.

Question 20

What does the poet notice at the beginning of the poem?

Answer 20

The poet sees a boy playing near a harbour with a ball. The poet saw his ball bouncing. It bounced and fell into the water of the harbour. The boy lost his ball. He became very sad.

Question 21

What was the effect of the loss of ball on the bay?

Answer 21

The poet sees the boy whose ball has fallen into the harbour. He describes the effect of the loss on the boy. The boy is shaken with grief. He trembles and stares down the harbour. His past days come alive in his mind.

Question 22

Explain the line, “And no one buys a ball back. Money is external”.

Answer 22

This line means that no one can buy something that is lost forever. No one can buy the boy that very ball which he has lost. Money is an external thing. It is a medium of possessing things. But even money cannot compensate for the sense of loss suffered by a person.

Question 23

Why does the poet say, “Balls will be lost always”?

Answer 23

Hem balls are the symbol of man’s possessions. We love our things. Some things are dearer to us than the others. But nothing is permanent in life. We may lose our dear things. Then we suffer from a sense of loss. This is experienced by everyone in life. That is why, the poet says, “Balls will be lost always”.

Question 24

Does the lost ball stand for the metaphor of the boy’s lost childhood? How?

Answer 24

The boy has lost his ball. It has fallen down into the harbour. It will not be found back again. However, through the metaphor of the lost ball, the poet wants to highlight a bigger loss. It is the loss of his childhood. Like the lost ball, the childhood days which he cherishes still now, have been lost forever. This makes the loss inconsolable.

Question 25

Why does the poet say: ‘No use to say ‘O there are other balls’?

Answer 25

The loss of the ball looks like an ordinary incident. It seems that the boy should not make such a fuss over it. Boys usually lose such balls and again buy new ones as they are not very costly. But the boy seems to be inconsolable over the loss. No money can buy the same ball that he has lost forever. Similarly, no wealth can buy back the childhood that he has lost forever.

Question 26

What is the general rule of this world of possessions’? Why is money external’?

Answer 26

Getting and losing is a natural cycle. Many more boys before him bought and lost their balls. This process will go on forever. However, no amount of money can buy back the same ball that has been lost forever. Money is external and has its own limitation. Wealth can’t compensate such emotional losses such as the loss of one’s childhood days.

Question 27

How is the boy learning the `epistemology of loss’ from the loss of his ball? What he has to learn?

Answer 27

The boy has to understand the nature of the loss. He has to understand what it means to lose something. Gain and loss are the two sides of the same coin. The boy has to learn how to move forward forgetting everything about the losses he has suffered in the past.

Question 28

What is the boy learning from the loss of the ball?

Answer 28

The boy is learning the nature of loss in this materialistic world. He has learnt that loss is part and parcel of human life.