Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Ball Poem Questions & Answers.
Written by John Berryman, this poem conveys the inevitable loss of possessions in a life of human over time. In my previous posts, I have shared The Ball Poem MCQ, Dust of Snow Questions & Answers and A Tiger in The Zoo Questions & Answers so, you can check these posts as well.
The Ball Poem Questions & Answers
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 so because he knows that the boy is experiencing a lot of pain on his first loss. He understands that it would the best way to leave the boy alone so that he should develop a sense of responsibility and maturity, and know how to boldly face losses in life. He also feels that buying another ball would be no consolation and so, he doesn’t offer him money to buy another ball.
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, according to me, the boy has possessed the ball for a long time. That is why, the memories of all his young days come to his mind when the ball goes bouncing into the water. Facing the loss of the object which is so dear to his heart, he stands sad and gloomy. The words “All his young days into the habour” indicate that throughout his young days the boy possessed the ball.
Question 3: What does “in the world of possessions” mean?
Answer: This phrase means a materialistic world where people are emotionally attached to things that they don’t easily share them with others. They try to accumulate more and more things and are possessive about what belongs to them.
Question 4: Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the words that suggest the answer.
Answer: No, I don’t think that the boy has lost anything earlier. The words that indicate this are: He senses first responsibility. Phrases like ‘ultimate shaking grief,’ ‘he stands rigid, trembling’ show that the loss of the ball has given him the rude shock suggesting that it is his first experience of a loss.
Question 5: 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 boy is learning the epistemology of loss and is learning a sense of responsibility to keep his possessions more safely. He is learning that losses are an inevitable part of life and one should face them boldly. The loss of ball is making him learn how to cope up with losses without losing heart. He is learning how to stand up and move on in life.
So, these were The Ball Poem Questions & Answers.