Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Resource 20200516093352 X Eng. 16 May The Ball Poem First Flight

    Uploaded by

    harish sharma
    162 views4 pages
    The document provides context and analysis for the poem "The Ball Poem" by John Berryman. It begins with general instructions for an assignment on the poem and provides background information on the themes. It then analyzes specific lines from the poem through explanations of poetic devices and imagery. The summary discusses how the poem describes a boy who loses his ball into a body of water and is overcome with grief, learning an important lesson about responsibility and loss.

    Original Description:

    Original Title

    Resource_20200516093352_X_eng._16_may_the_Ball_Poem_first_Flight

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    The document provides context and analysis for the poem "The Ball Poem" by John Berryman. It begins with general instructions for an assignment on the poem and provides background information on the themes. It then analyzes specific lines from the poem through explanations of poetic devices and imagery. The summary discusses how the poem describes a boy who loses his ball into a body of water and is overcome with grief, learning an important lesson about responsibility and loss.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    162 views4 pages

    Resource 20200516093352 X Eng. 16 May The Ball Poem First Flight

    Uploaded by

    harish sharma
    The document provides context and analysis for the poem "The Ball Poem" by John Berryman. It begins with general instructions for an assignment on the poem and provides background information on the themes. It then analyzes specific lines from the poem through explanations of poetic devices and imagery. The summary discusses how the poem describes a boy who loses his ball into a body of water and is overcome with grief, learning an important lesson about responsibility and loss.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    SUBECT: ENGLISH

    CLASS: X
    SESSION: 2020-21
    General Instructions:
     The assignment is designed in a way to facilitate students to comprehend the concepts properly so that
    they can attempt the topic- related questions effectively.
     It is deals with the complete explanation of the Poem, ‘The Ball Poem’.
     The questions are designed and selected keeping in mind CBSE Board Exams.
     Students are expected to read the selected topic from their NCERT book-First Flight (shared here
    also) before starting with the assignment itself for better comprehension and contact teachers in case
    of any doubt.
     RTC and Short Answer Type questions are to be done in the notebook.

    THE BALL POEM

    — John Berryman

    THEME

    John Berryman has curtly described the harsh reality of life and beautifully suggested the ways and
    means to face it. He talks about the pain of losing something extremely close to one‘s heart and puts
    forward the idea of coping with the accompanying stress and misery. The poem talks about the first
    experience of the sense of responsibility and possession closely followed by the sense of failure and
    grief when one is unable to fulfill the assigned responsibility.

    TEXT: LINE: 1-4

    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 has started the poem by asking a *Rhetorical question, ―What is the boy expected to do
    who has lost his ball?‖ The poet is an onlooker and saw the ball slip from boy‘s hand and go into the
    water across the street.

    Note: *Rhetorical question - A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point
    rather than to get an answer.

    GURUKUL THE SCHOOL,GHAZIABAD 1


    Poetic Devices used in above lines are:
    (1) Anaphora – Repetition of word/phrase/expression at the start of two or more consecutive lines. Both
    line 1 & 2 begin with ‗What‘ and line 3 & 4 begin with ―merrily‖
    (2) Repetition: When a word/phrase is repeated in a line/poem. In line 2 ‗what‘ is used twice.
    (3) Imagery: is the use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to the work. ―Merrily
    bouncing, down the street, and then Merrily over—there it is in the water‖.
    (4) Assonance: the prominence of a vowel sound throughout a line is called assonance. In stanza 1, line 1
    - ―boy now, who has lost ‖ - ‗o‘ sound is prominent
    (5) Enjambment: when the same sentence continues to the next line without the use of any punctuation
    marks, it is called enjambment. It has been used thorough-out the poem.
    (6) Poet has employed Alliteration (the occurrence of the same consonant or consonant sound at the
    beginning of adjacent or closely connected words) in the above line ―what‖ and ―who‖.

    TEXT: LINE: 5-14

    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* (U.S. cent), another ball, is worthless. Now
    He senses first responsibility
    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.

    EXPLANATION

    The poet further says that it is no point telling the boy that there are other balls as well. The boy is
    stilled by grave grief. He is standing stiff and trembling staring at the harbour where all his childhood
    memories have drowned in the form of the lost ball. The poet decided not to intrude into his sorrow
    and tell him that he can easily acquire other ball which is an inexpensive material possession. There is
    no point telling him that he might get new ball for just one dime. The boy has learnt first lesson of
    life, failing to honour the responsibility of his belongings causes profound pain. He claims that the
    boy is now being apprised with the harsh reality of life, there will always be instances of losing the
    prized possessions and people taking away the prized possessions and no one can ever buy back those
    lost things or the belongingness associated with those lost things. Poet asserts that money can‘t buy
    everything. Though one can buy materialistic things with money, he/she can never regain the
    belongingness associated with the lost things.

    Poetic Devices used in above lines are:


    1) Repetition: when a word/phrase is repeated in a line/poem. In line 8 ‗ball‘ is used twice

    GURUKUL THE SCHOOL,GHAZIABAD 2


    2) Alliteration: the occurrence of the same consonant or consonant sound at the beginning of adjacent or
    closely connected words. In the above line ―buys a Ball back‖.
    (3) Metaphor: Ball is the metaphor for all worldly possessions.

    TEXT: LINE: 15-18

    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.

    Note: *Epistemology: Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of
    knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between
    justified belief and opinion
    EXPLANATION

    The poet concludes that boy is in the process of learning one of the most important lessons of life,
    experiencing loss. He is learning to bear the loss and to stand up against the inevitable miseries of
    life. Every individual needs to learn to bear the loss of possessions and move on. Every individual
    needs to learn this important lesson sometime or the other in his life. The skill to live with the loss
    and to face the despair and disappointments and continue the journey called life.

    Poetic Devices used in above lines are:


    (1) Assonance: the prominence of a vowel sound throughout a line is called assonance. In last line -
    ―And most know many days, how to stand‖ - ‗o‘ and ―a‖ sounds are prominent and ―e‖ is prominent in
    ―He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes‖.
    (2) Enjambment: when the same sentence continues to the next line without the use of any punctuation
    marks, it is called enjambment. It has been used thorough-out the poem.

    SUMMARY

    The poet is talking about a little boy who has lost his ball while playing. The ball slipped 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 the situation. He saw the boy helplessly looking
    into the water where his ball went. He was extremely sad. He was immensely immersed in his sorrow
    which made him standing near the harbour for a very long time, looking for his ball. The poet says
    that he could have consoled him by proposing to get new ball as it is quite inexpensive. Nevertheless,
    he stopped himself from interfering because poet understood that money might get him (boy) a new
    ball but will not be able to bring the memories and feelings attached to the lost ball. He further adds
    that the time had come for the boy to learn to cope with his loses and take care of his responsibilities.
    Here the poet wants to say that this is the great opportunity for the boy to learn the toughest lesson of
    life; accepting the harsh realities of life that one day everyone is forced to bear the loss of their loved
    ones and possessions.

    GURUKUL THE SCHOOL,GHAZIABAD 3


    NOTEBOOK WORK

    Reference to context (to be answered in one word/ sentence)—

    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!”

    (a) What did the poet see?


    (b) Where did the ball land finally?
    (c) What has the boy lost?
    (d) Name the poem and the poet.

    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.

    (a) Why poet chose not to console the boy for his lost ball?
    (b) What is the condition of the boy?
    (c) Where is the boy staring?
    (d) What does he think of his young days?

    Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words—


    (a) Why does the poet say, ―I would not intrude on him‖? Why doesn‘t he offer him money to buy
    another ball?
    (b) A ball is an easily available, inexpensive thing. Then, why is the boy so sad to lose it?
    (c) ‗He senses first responsibility‘—what responsibility is referred to here?
    (d) Why does the poet say ‗The boy is learning from the loss of the ball‘?

    ********************************

    GURUKUL THE SCHOOL,GHAZIABAD 4

    You might also like