The ball poem

Class 10

1. THE BALL POEM BY- John Berryman

2. Before we proceed: Everyone posses something and lose it. Why then we become so upset over losing something? Isn’t it possible to buy another thing and be happy after losing something?

3. Some points: A boy losses a ball. He is very upset. A ball doesn’t cost much, nor it is difficult to buy another ball. Why then is the boy is so upset? Let’s read the poem to see what the poet thinks has been lost, and what the boy has to learn from the experience of losing something.

4. About the author 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.

5. Introduction to the lesson 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 favourite 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.

6. The Ball Poem and explanation

7. Para 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! Explanation- 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

8. Para 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 Explanation- 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)

9. Para 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 Explanation- 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. -

10. Critical Analysis of The Ball Poem: This poem can be interpreted both literally and metaphorically. If taken literally, it is a soulful picture of little boys growing up and learning to deal with the loss of the first thing he has ever held dear. If taken metaphorically, it is the story of mankind learning to deal with the loss of their loved ones. The ball is a metaphor for everything that we think is irreplaceable in our lives. It is obvious that anything that is irreplaceable is very valuable to us, and it is our responsibility to take care of those things. People taking away one’s ball or one’s ball getting lost is a metaphor for death. What is most precious to us is a person whom we love dearly. Hence, we always try to take care of them. But sooner or later, every man must die, for man is a mortal creature. There is nothing we can do to stop this process, and hence it is something we must learn to deal with. Loss of a loved one can spell a period of intense grief and depression for some of us. However, just like the little boy is brought back to his senses by the sound of the whistle, we must overcome our grief and keep living. The poet’s message is that life goes on despite the death of our loved ones.

11. Poetic Devices in The Ball Poem: Rhyme scheme: The poet does not follow any identifiable rhyme scheme in this poem. Rhetorical devices: Metaphor: This rhetorical device is used when a covert comparison is made between two different things or ideas. In this poem, the poet uses the device of metaphor in the 8th line when he compares the boy’s young days or his childhood with the lost ball. Apostrophe: This rhetorical device is used when a poet addresses his or her poem to an absent audience. In this poem, the poet uses the device of an apostrophe in the 13th line as he directly speaks to the little boy and tells him that balls are always liable to get lost, but we never see the boy responding to him. Transferred epithet: This rhetorical device is used when an emotion is attributed to a non-living thing after being displaced from a person, most often the poet himself or herself. In this poem, the poet uses the device of transferred epithet in the 15th line when he writes the phrase “desperate eyes”. It is not that the eyes of the boy are sad, but that the boy itself is sad and that his eyes are expressing that emotion on his face.

12. Central Idea of The Ball Poem: The poet watches a young boy playing with his ball. The next minute, his ball rolls away from him and fall into the water of the harbour. As the boy watches his ball disappear, he can also feel his childhood slip away from him. He feels himself growing up very fast as he learns that loss is a part of everyday life and that life goes on despite it. The sight of the sad little boy pains the poet, but he knows that growing up is an unavoidable process.

13. Themes of The Ball Poem: Loss of innocence: For the little boy in this poem, his ball is the first thing he has ever held dear. However, he has never even considered the possibility that he might one day lose his ball. It is only when that happens that he realizes that it was his responsibility to keep the ball safe and that he has failed. The boy quickly realizes that everything he will ever own will be his responsibility. He also realizes that things will get lost from time to time and money simply cannot replace them all. As he is learning these lessons, he is growing up. He will never again be as innocent he was before the loss of his ball. He will never be naive enough to not feel the pressure of his responsibilities. This is a very painful thing for the poet to watch. Loss of a loved one: This poem has a surface meaning as well as a deeper meaning. If we read between the lines, we will see that the ball symbolizes our family or friends whom we love, and the loss of the ball symbolizes their death. As we grow older, we will become more and more accustomed to seeing our loved ones die. We will learn how to deal with such a loss and to move on from it as well. Death may grieve us or cause us to feel depressed, but sooner or later we must overcome those feelings and start living our normal lives again. When you lose something , you should let go and move on. We can’t change the past , we can only change the future. Valuable memories can’t be replaced

14. The Tone of The Ball Poem: The tone of this poem is very somber and sad. The way in which the poet describes the boy’s feelings upon losing the ball makes us feel great sympathy for the boy. Even more than that, we can all relate to the experience that the boy is going through. That is perhaps why the poem does not overly depress us. The resignation that the boy feels can also be felt by us since death is not something that any man can escape.

15. Exposition Setting: In a dock or harbour. Speaker: The author himself- John Berryman Dramatic action: -A boy becomes a man -Go to the dock -Looking at the reflection of himself (in the water) -Reflecting his youth

16. Thank you By- diya