NCERT SOLUTIONS FOR CLASS 10 - ENGLISH NOTES - THE BALL POEM - JOHN BERRYMAN - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - CBSE

 

THE BALL POEM

JOHN BERRYMAN

 

Thinking about the Poem
In pairs, attempt the following questions
1) Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?
Ans: The poet says, “I would not intrude on him” because he would not like to intervene in the natural process of learning. He needs the boy to learn proficiency with the importance of loss on his own. He doesn’t offer him money to purchase another ball since that would be useless. He needs the boy to learn proficiency with the lesson of liability.

 

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?
Ans: Yes, the boy has had the ball for a long time. At the point when ball bounced into the water, every one of his memories of the times of childhood streaked before him. This prompted an acknowledgment that those minutes would not return, like the ball. He can purchase new balls and can also make new moments, yet those that are gone would not return.

 

3) What does “in the world of possessions” mean?
Ans: “In the world of possessions” means that the world is loaded with materialistic things. Here everything and each activity is made to have something, regardless of whether it is the ownership of land, property, cash, or some other thing. The poet proposes that losing a ball, which is something small, would cause the boy to get what it resembles to lose something that one had.

 

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

5) What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words.
Ans: The poet says that the boy is learning out how to adapt up to the loss of the ball. He is encountering sadness and figuring out how to experience childhood in this universe of assets. He discovers that there are such countless things in life that are lost and can't be brought back. He is detecting his first obligation as he has lost the ball. The boy will figure out how to stand up and abandon the misfortunes as he would have perceived the true meaning and nature of misfortune.