The Ball Poem by john Berryman

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About the Poet:-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 his work Dream songs. He also won American national book award.    .............     Introduction :The poet john through his poems, "The ball poem"has described the reality of life which every one has to face oneday. He has touched the topic of how to stand up against the miseries and sorrows of life.           Summary : The poet is talking about a little boy who has lost his ball. The ball skipped from his hand and went into the nearby water body.The poet says that this sight of the boy and his reaction to this situation. He further says that boy was helplessly looking into the water where his ball had gone. He was sad and was trembling with fear. He got so immersed in his sorrow that he kept standing near the harbour for very long time and kept on looking for his ball. The poet says that he could console him that he may get new balls or he could also give him some money to by another ball. But he stops himself from doing so because he thinks that the money may bring a new ball but not bring the memories and feelings attached to lost ball. He further says that the time has come  for the boy to learn his responsibilities. Here the poet wants to say that now the boy will learn the toughest lessons of life. The lesson of accepting the harsh realities of life that one day we will lose our loved ones and our loved things............       ...........      Explanation :-"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 water!" Difficult word meaning :-(a)Merrily :cheerful (b)Bouncing:Jumping up and down                                                   The poet is talking about a boy who has lost his ball. He wants to know about him and his reaction because he has lost his ball. Further, he asks to himself that what this boy will do after loosing his ball. The poet has seen the ball going away from the boy. He says that the ball was cheerfully jumping up and down in the street. This mean that when the ball skipped from the boy's hand, it went into the street and later on, it fell into the nereby river.    ..  Literary devices:-Anaphora:use of repeated words in two or more lines(What is the boy.... What, what and merrily bouncing.... Merrily over) (b) Assonance :-repeated use of vowel'o' (boy, now, who, lost) (c) imagery:is in the lines when poet says merrily bouncing down the street. (d)"What" is repeated.............         "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.'                                    Difficult words (a)Grief:Sorrow (b)Rigid:Fixed                                   (c)Trembling :Shaking (d)Harbour :dock, port (e)Intrude :invader (f)Dime :10 cents (g)Worthless :Value less                explaination:-The poet says that there is no benefit of consoling the boy by saying that he he will get another ball because he has other balls too. He says so because the boy is feeling very sad. He is completely surrounded by sorrow. He is sad because all the memories of childhood day went down the harbour with the ball. Here the poet says that the boy is very sad as the ball which has now gone into the water remind him of those sweet memories, of the times when he owned itThis loss is unbearable for him and he is grief  stricken. The poet says that he  can't tell the boy to take some money from him in order to buy another ball. He says so because the new ball will not bring the sense of belonging to the boy. Further, the poet says that the time has come for the boys to learn the responsiblity of taking care of his things.                                                Literary devices :-(a)Repetition :use of word "ball" (b)Asyndeton : no use of conjunction in a sentence (A dime, another ball, is worthless )                                    . Stanza:                                             "in a world of possession, 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"                            ........... Explanation :-Here the poet says that the boy has to learn that in this materialistic world, many of his belonings will be lost. He personifies the ball as his belonging, be it the worthy thing or the relationship he is in possession of. So he says that he has to learn to live without them no matter what. He says no one can buy back such things for him. The poet  said so because according to him money can't buy every thing for you. If it does buy you some materialistic thing, still, it will  not be able to buy the sense of beloningness. He says that the boy is learning how to stand up against the sense of lost things. This means that the boy is trying to learn the real truth of life which states that you have to accept the mistries of life and stand up again. This is the truth which every one has to learn in one's life. The harsh truth of standing up against the odd miseries of life that every one has to bear.                                      ..... Literary Devices :(a)Alitration :Use of sound 'b' at the start of two consecutive words(buys a ball back.)(b)Assonance :Use of vowel sound 'e' (he is learning, well behind his desperate eyes)   (c) Repetition :'ball' word is repeated (d)Rhyme:There is no rhyme scheme followed in the poem.