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The Ball Poem
By– John Berryman
COMPREHENSION OF STANZAS
Read the following stanzas and answer the questions that follow :
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!
Questions :
(a) What becomes peculiar of the boy who has lost his ball?
(b) What did the poet see?
(c) Where did the ball land finally?
(d) What has the boy lost?
(e) Name the poem and the poet.
Answers :
(a) The boy is confused as to what he is to do.
(b) The poet saw the ball bouncing towards the water.
(c) It landed finally in the water.
(d) The boy has lost his ball.
(e) Poem: The Ball Poem.
Poet: John Berryman.
STANZA 2
No use to say. ‘O there are other balls’ :
Ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down
All his young days into the harbour where
His ball went [H.B.S.E. March 2017 (Set-D)]
Questions :
(a) How do people generally comfort a boy who has lost his ball?
(b) What does he stare at?
(c) What comes to his mind when he looks at the ball?
(d) Why is the boy so sad?
(e) Where was the boy staring at?
Answers :
(a) People generally comfort him by saying, “There are other balls.”
(b) He stares at the ball which has fallen in the water.
(c) When he looks at the ball, all his young days come to his mind.
(d) He is grief-stricken at the loss of his ball.
(e) He was staring down the harbour where his ball had gone.
STANZA 3
I would not intrude on him;
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility
In a world of possessions.
Questions :
(a) Who does the word ‘he’ refer 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.
Answers :
(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.
STANZA 4
People will take
Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.
And no one buys a ball back. Money is external
Questions :
(a) Why does the poet say ‘balls will be lost always’?
(b) Why does the poet say that no one buys a ball back?
(c) What does the poet mean by ‘Money is external’?
(d) What is external?
(e) What is the name of the poem?
Answers :
(a) The poet wants to say that the loss of dear things is a fact of life.
(b) The poet says so because no one can buy the ball back because it is lost. He means to say that money cannot compensate for the sense of loss.
(c) It means that it always meant to be spent.
(d) Money is external.
(e) The name of the poem is ‘The Ball Poem’.
STANZA 5
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.
Questions :
(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?
Answers :
(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.
Stanza-6: (Page 46)
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-Meaning: Bouncing— jumping over, Street— narrow path, Merrily— happily,
Paraphrase
The poet sees a boy playing with a ball. Then, the boy loses his ball. The poet asks what should the boy be feeling now? Does he ask what will the boy do now? He saw the ball bouncing merrily and going down the street. And now, in the same way, it has fallen into the water and lost forever.
Questions:
(a) What has gone wrong with the boy?
(b) What did the poet see?
(c) Where did the ball fall into?
(d) What is the condition of the boy after losing his ball?
Answers:
(a) The boy has lost his ball.
(b) The poet saw the ball bouncing down the street and finally falling into the water.
(c) The ball fell into the water.
(d) The boy seemed to be upset after losing his ball.
Stanza-7: (Page 46)
No use to say ‘O there are other balls’;
An ultimate shaking grieffixes the boy’
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down
All his young days into the harbour where
His ball went.
Word-Meaning: Ultimate— final, Shaking— trembling, Grief— sorrow, Fixes— overpowers, Rigid— (here) unmoved, Trembling— shivering, Staring— looking keenly, Young days— childhood days, Harbour— a place where ships load and unload goods,
Paraphrase
There is no use of consoling the boy. He can’t be consoled if he is offered other balls in place of the lost ball. Finally, deep grief overpowers the boy. He stands shaking there without leaving the place. Standing there, he stares down the place where the ball has disappeared in the water of the harbour. The loss of the ball in the harbour reminds him of his childhood and childhood days which have been lost in the harbour of life.
Questions:
(a) What is the significance of the lost ball for the boy?
(b) What is the condition of the boy?
(c) Where is he staring down?
(d) What does he think of his young days?
Answers:
(a) There will be of no use of consoling the boy that he can have other balls in place of the lost one.
(b) The boy is overpowered with grief and stands like a statue staring down the harbour where the ball was lost.
(c) He is staring down the harbour where his ball disappeared into the water.
(d) The boy feels that as the ball has been lost into the harbour. Similarly, his childhood has been lost in the harbour of life.
Stanza-8: (Page 46)
I would not intrude on him;
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility
In a world of possessions.
Word-Meaning: Intrude— encroach, A dime– (here) very cheap, Worthless— useless, Senses- considers, Responsibility— a sense of duty, World of possessions— a world where people are busy in possessing things,
Paraphrase
The poet doesn’t want to intervene or console the boy. He will not tell the boy that the ball he has lost costs almost nothing. He will not console him by saying that he can buy another ball quite easily. Now good sense prevails over the boy. He knows that in this world people are always running after acquiring and owning things. He realises what is his first responsibility in such a world.
Questions:
(a) Does the poet want to intrude in the matter?
(b) What is the cost of the ball?
(c) How does the boy prepare himself?
(d) What kind of the world is it?
Answers:
(a) No, the poet doesn’t want to intrude in the matter.
(b) The cost of the ball is just a dime, it is very cheap.
(c) The boy senses his responsibility and composes himself calmly.
(d) This is the world where people run after possessing and grabbing material things.
Stanza-9: (Page 46)
People will take
Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.
And no one buys a ball back. Money is external.
Word meaning: External—outwardly, not internal,
Paraphrase
Buying and losing continues throughout our life. People will always buy such balls and the balls they buy will continue to be lost. Once a ball has been lost, it is lost a ball again. Money is totally external to our inner feelings. Money can’t compensate for our emotional losses. Similarly, the childhood that we have lost forever, can’t be bought back with money.
Questions:
(a) What will people take?
(b) What will be the fate of the balls?
(c) Can money buy a lost ball?
(d) Why is money external?
Answers:
(a) People will go on buying new balls.
(b) The balls will always be bought and lost forever.
(c) No, money can’t buy back a lost ball.
(d) Money can’t compensate internal or emotional losses suffered by us.
Stanza-10: (Page 46)
He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,
This 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-Meaning: Behind— backward, Desperate— hopeless, Epistemology — knowledge, Epistemology of loss —understanding the nature of loss,
Paraphrase
The boy with his hopeless eyes is beginning to learn the nature of the loss. He is learning what it means to lose something. He has to learn how to come over the loss and stand up again in life. He has to learn this basic principle of life which every man of the world has to learn. He must learn how to bear the pangs of the loss of his childhood. He has to move ahead in life forgetting the loss of his childhood.
Questions:
(a) Are his eyes shining with hope?
(b) What is the epistemology of loss?
(c) What should every man learn?
(d) What lesson is the boy taught here?
Answers:
(a) No, there is no hope in his ‘desperate’ eyes.
(b) It means the nature of loss and means what it means to lose something.
(c) Every man has to learn that gains and losses are to be accepted with a balanced mind.
(d) The boy should learn how to stand up again and move ahead in life forgetting his loss of childhood.
Want to Read More Check Below:-
The Ball Poem- About the Poet & Introduction
The Ball Poem- Theme & Style of the Poem
The Ball Poem- Short & Detailed Summary
The Ball Poem- Value Points of the Poem
The Ball Poem- Summary in Hindi – Full Text
The Ball Poem- Extract Based comprehension test Questions
The Ball Poem- Multiple Choice Questions in Quiz
The Ball Poem- Important Extra Questions- Very Short Answer Type
The Ball Poem- Important Extra Questions- Short Answer Type
The Ball Poem- Important Extra Questions- Long Answer Type
