Class 10th ENG.CBSE.P-5 The Ball Poem First Flight, Questions and answers Theme Message A Brief Paraphrase

Poem-5

The Ball Poem by John Berryman

A Brief Paraphrase of the Poem

The poet wishes to convey that loss is a fact of life. The sooner man learns to tolerate it, the better it is. When we lose something for the first time, we feel very sad. But later we learn to live with our loss. In this poem the boy loses his ball. He is very sad. The poet can buy him another ball. But he does not want to do so. He wants that the boy must learn the bitter truth of life that everyone has to suffer the loss of something dear.

Annotations

1-Merrily- Happily

2-Shaking grief - great sadness

3-Rigid-stiff

4-Harbour- a place where ships load and unload

5-Intrude- enter without permission

6-Possession- something that is owned

7-External- superficial

8-Desperate- Hopeless

9- Epistemology of loss- understanding the nature of loss

10- Dime- ten cents

Question/Answer

Question 1.
Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?
Answer:
The poet says, “I would not intrude on him” because he does not want to intervene in the natural process of learning. He wants the boy to learn the meaning of loss on his own. He also doesn’t offer him money to buy another ball because that would be worthless. He wants the boy to learn the lesson of responsibility.

Question 2.
“ …. staring down All his young days into the harbour where His ball went…. ” Do you think the boy has had the ball for a long time? Is it linked to the memories of days when he played with it?
Answer:
Yes, the boy was having the ball for a long time. When it bounced into the water, all his memories of the days of childhood flashed in front of him. This led to a realization that those moments would not come back, just like the ball. He can buy new balls and can similarly create new moments, but those that are gone would not return.

Q 3.What does “in the world of possessions” mean?
Answer:
“It Means The world of materialistic things.People like to possess all kinds of things in the world.Money is external because it can buy only materials objects it cannot buy everything that one loses.

Q 4.Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the Words that suggest the answer.
Answer:
No, the boy has not lost anything earlier. The words that suggest so are ‘He senses first responsibility’ in a world of possessions’.

Q5.What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words. Answer: The poet says that the boy is learning to cope up with the loss of the ball. He is experiencing grief and learning to grow up in this world of possessions. He learns that there are so many things in life that are lost and cannot be brought back. He is sensing his first responsibility as he has lost the ball. The boy will learn how to stand up and leave the losses behind as he would have understood the true meaning and nature of loss.

Q6.What is the message of the poem the ball?

Ans: The message that the poet wants to convey is the importance of loss and responsibility in life. We should not forget the importance of possessions.

Q7.Write the central idea theme of the poem The Ball poem

Answer. The central idea of the poem The Ball Poem is that every person tries to possess things. He feels as if the things which he possess will always remain with him. However he has to lose them one day and bear the pain of its loss.

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