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The Ball Poem Notes

This poem explores the themes of loss and grief through the metaphor of a young boy who loses his ball. It describes how the ball bouncing down the street represents the inevitable losses people experience over their lives, whether of material possessions or loved ones. While the boy is initially shaken with sorrow over losing something so precious, he begins to understand that what's lost can never be replaced and that he must accept loss as a part of life. The poem conveys that learning to cope with grief and carry on is a universal lesson everyone must eventually face.

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Dipangshu Mitra
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161 views3 pages

The Ball Poem Notes

This poem explores the themes of loss and grief through the metaphor of a young boy who loses his ball. It describes how the ball bouncing down the street represents the inevitable losses people experience over their lives, whether of material possessions or loved ones. While the boy is initially shaken with sorrow over losing something so precious, he begins to understand that what's lost can never be replaced and that he must accept loss as a part of life. The poem conveys that learning to cope with grief and carry on is a universal lesson everyone must eventually face.

Uploaded by

Dipangshu Mitra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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STD- X ENGLISH

FIRST FLIGHT
THE BALL POEM
- JOHN BERRYMAN

Summary
The poem can be interpreted literally as well as metaphorically. Literally
taken, this poem is a soulful picture of a little boy growing up and
learning to deal with the loss of something that he held dear.
Metaphorically, the poem evolves into a story of mankind learning to
deal with grief associated with loss. Loss of something dear brings
sorrow and depression in life but life goes on. In this poem, the poet
conveys the message that life must go on despite the loss.
The poem begins with the depiction of a little boy losing his ball. The
ball- a dearly priced possession of the boy bounces down the street.
Metaphorically, these lines may be interpreted as a plight of human life.
They are cruelly forced to watch helplessly as time snatches away their
precious possession- be it material things or precious things.
As the young boy looks down at the water which had engulfed his
precious possession – he is shaken with grief and transfixed with pain.
For him, the loss is irreplaceable – it leaves a permanent void. The loss
of the ball symbolises the loss of childhood innocence and no amount of
money can replace it.
Slowly, a new awareness, a new maturity awakens him. He gets his first
sense of responsibility that one can never get back the things lost, one
has to accept the loss. Money would be of no use in replacing such
things as they are precious and priceless.
However, as the poet sees the little boy coming to terms with the loss
gradually, he feels that the boy was learning not only about the grief
associated, but also how to overcome it and carry on with life. He has
learnt how to stand up instead of breaking down in sorrow. This,
according to the poet, is a lesson that every human being must learn
sooner or later in his or her life.
Short answer type questions:
Q1) What is the “ball” a metaphor for? With what did the little boy
associate his lost ball?
Ans- In this poem, the ball is a metaphor for all that we value in our
lives, be it material things or relations. It represents things which are
priceless and which leave a permanent void when lost.
The boy associated his lost ball with the memories of his childhood.
Along with the ball, the boy lost a part of his childhood as he had many
memories associated with it.
Q2) Why can no one buy a ball back?
Ans - The ball, here, is not just a material possession, it is the
association of memories one has with any particular object. In this
sense, a ball of memories cannot be brought back.
Q3) What must every man have to know one day?
Ans- Every man has to learn the lesson of coping up with the grief
associated with loss and carry on with life. Every man will have to apply
this lesson many a times in the course of life in order to survive as well
as to exist.

Long Answer type questions :


Q1) Explain “epistemology of loss”.
Ans - In the opinion of the poet, the little boy had not known the meaning
of loss in life prior to his experience of losing the ball. Losing his ball had
brought the little boy into contact with the grief associated with loss for
the first time in his life. It was this incident which brought him the true
meaning of life. Thus, he learnt what loss is and simultaneously how to
cope with it.
Q2) “Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.” Comment.
Ans – The poet has metaphorically compared the ball to things that
human beings hold dear in lives. A lot of things that one holds dear in life
eventually gets lost – be it material possession or relations. The plight of
human beings is that they are forced to watch helplessly as time
snatches away what they hold dear. Objects or people will always take
an exit from one’s life. One has to accept this and move on in life.

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