THE BALL POEM

THE BALL POEM

JOHN BERRYMAN

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.

LET'S DISCUSS.....

• HOW WOULD YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LOSE SOMETHING WHICH HAD BEEN WITH FOR A LONG TIME?

• WHY DOES ONE BECOME UPSET OVER LOSING?

• HOW DO YOU THINK ONE CAN STAND UP WHEN ONE LOSES SOMETHING OR SOMEONE?

WE UNDERSTAND THAT...

SUCCESS AND FAILURE IS A PART OF LIFE AND WE MST LEARN TO COPE UP WITH THE FAILURES IN LIFE TO MOVE ON. WE MUST ACCEPT THE REALITY OF LIFE

THE POEM...

...has described the reality of life which everyone has to face one day. He has touched the topic of how to stand up against the miseries and sorrows of life. It is about losing something that you love and learning to grow up. It is about a little boy, who, for the first time in his young life, is learning what it is like to experience grief at the loss of a much-beloved possession of his ball.

THE BALL POEM

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

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!

The poet wonders how the condition of the boy would be now who has just lost his ball. The poet further wonders  what he will do now without the ball. He saw the ball going down the street speedily and then drowning 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.

According to the poet, it is useless to make the boy happy by saying there are balls in the market because the boy is standing rigid He is trembling (with fear or sorrow) while watching and thinking of  the memory of the balls which he used to play with into the harbour in which his ball went. The poet says that he should not try to disturb him or make him happy by offering him money to buy ta new ball because a dime (money) and another ball (purchased by money) are worthless for the boy. It is because the boy was very attached to the ball and loved it very much. Money cannot bring back his ball. Hence a new ball cannot make him happy.

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.

The poet says to the little boy (in an imaginary conversation) that, in the world in which we own things, people will buy balls (materialistic things) i.e, in this world, every human gets things that they love a lot and get attached to them.

However, these balls i.e. things which they own, will be lost like the ball of the little boy. So, the boy senses first responsibility i.e. he learns the first lesson of his life i.e. we own things and we lose them. It will remain the same throughout our lives. In other words, the poet is saying that no one can bring back the things which they lost because money can buy materialistic things but not emotions and attachment which one has with the things which they owned but lost.

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

According to the poet, the boy is learning the epistemology of loss though his eyes are desperate( hopeless and sad). He is learning how to stand up after falling down (because of the loss).

He is learning that every man must accept the loss and stand up and move on. Most people learn that sooner or later.

CONCLUDING LINES OF THE POEM (LINES 19-25)

And gradually light returns to the street,

A whistle blows, the ball is out of sight.

Soon part of me will explore the deep and dark

Floor of the harbour . . I am everywhere,

I suffer and move, my mind and my heart move

With all that move me, under the water

Or whistling, I am not a little boy.

POETIC DEVICES

• Poetic devices are tools that a poet can use to create rhythm, enhance a poem's meaning, or intensify a mood or feeling.

• Poetic device is a technique a writer uses to produce a special effect on their writing.

POETIC DEVICES USED IN THE POEM

• SYMBOLISM (The ball symbolises the boys young and innocent days.)

• REPETITION (what, balls)

• ANAPHORA (what, merrily)

• ASSONANCE (VOWEL SOUNDS REPEATED)

• ENJAMBMENT

• IMAGERY

CONCLUSION

IT'S A PHILOSOPHICAL POEM, GIVING A LANDMARK LESSON DEALING WITH LOSS, FAILURES IN LIFE.

THERE IS NO RHYME SCHEME FOLLOWED IN THE POEM, i.e, IT'S A BLANK VERSE.