THE BALL POEM (First Flight)

By John Berryman

John Berryman was an American poet and scholar. He is best known for the Dream Songs (1969) which was a sequence of 385 poems. He won Pulitzer Prize for the Dream Songs. He also won National book award.

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!
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, 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.
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.

1. Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?
The poet wants the boy to experience the loss. He should learn that it is the part of life. That’s why the poet doesn’t want to interfere the boy and doesn’t want to offer him money to buy another ball.
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?

Yes, the boy had been playing with the ball for a long time. The boy has lot of memories associated with the ball. 

3. What does “in the world of possessions” mean? 

In the world of possessions means that the world is full of materialistic things. Materialistic things are those things which bring comfort and luxury in our life. 

4. Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the words that suggest the answer. 

The line in the poem “now he senses his first responsibility’ helps us to know that the boy has not lost anything before. 

5. What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words. 

The boy is very much troubled by the loss of the ball. The ball fell inside water. The poet conveys the importance of loss and thereby the importance of possessions. 

6. “He senses first responsibility “- what responsibility is referred to here?
The responsibility referred is learning to cope up with loss, realising the value of possessions and also learning to stand up on his own and understanding responsibilities in life.
7. Explain the theme of the poem.

In our day to day life we lose many things which have a lot of memories attached to it, we feel very sad on losing those objects. This poem teaches us how to cope with loss and understanding the value of possessions. The poet explains the value of self-realisation and how the boy feels sad on losing the ball and how he tries to cope up. The poet talks about two things sense of responsibility and understanding the value of possessions.

Click for the Poem-How to tell wild animals included in Unit 3 of First Flight.

Click for the Chapter included in Unit 3 of First Flight.

Click here to view the video explanation of the poem.