The Ball Poem Summary Class 10 Chapter Three Poem by John Berryman
THE BALL POEM
SUMMARY
Poet John Berryman is flawlessly illustrating a kid who has lost his ball. The poem starts with the poet’s question, which he asks himself. He discusses a kid who has lost his ball and asks what he will do in the wake of losing it. This poem is about losing something which we love and afterward learning how to grow up. It is about a kid, who in his young life, unexpectedly, realizes what it resembles to encounter distress after the loss of a much-darling belonging which is his ball here. Possibly for us, the losing of a ball is of a minor result. Our response might be that still there are a lot more balls. So, no need to worry. But to a kid, this is something more important than what’s expected. Yet, money is external and immortal here, as it can’t repurchase the affection and henceforth can’t supplant the things that we love.
The kid was glad and lively when the ball was with him. The poet further says that the boy must have lost his ball while playing with it by throwing it up and down. At that point, the ball probably slipped from the kid’s hand and into the street. From that point, it fell into the nearby river and went into the water.
The poet says that there is no use to say that the boy will get another ball. The kid was very and was in profound distress. The kid feels that all his young days and beloved memories are gone down in the harbor with the ball. The kid can’t be advised to purchase another ball as it would not be justified because a new ball can’t bring his childhood memories back. The poet further says that the first time, the kid has felt an awareness of certain responsibilities. He should take care of his things so that they do not get lost in the future. Here, the ball represents the happy moments of innocent days of adolescence. Man’s innocent nature symbolizes the ball loss. When we lose our innocence, we can’t get it back. Yet, despite these, we need to find out how to stand up. We should be strong and move on, regardless of the pity inside. This is the right way we will endure. In this way, we need to find out how to accept and let go.
The poet has used the imagery while telling how the ball personifies the spirit of the boy’s childish innocence. We may imagine how this young kid’s soul, similar to the ball, is sinking into the waters of the harbor. Furthermore, as it floats further away, the kid will find out how to grow up, and that part that is connected to that ball grows up also, until it is no longer a little boy.
The poet says that the world is loaded with materialistic things. People will lose something like the ball constantly. They get attached to materialistic things. However, these things won’t remain forever. The poet further says that nobody can repurchase things. Money is an external thing. Everything can’t be purchased with money.
Early or later, everybody learns the bitter truth that enduring is an unavoidable part of life and that we need to forget the pain and move forward.