Explanation of the Poem

Stanza 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!

No use to say ‘O there are other balls”:

Explanation

The poem is about a little boy. For the first time in his young life, he is learning what it is like to experience grief at the loss of a much loved possession, that is, his ball. The ball s here symbolic of the sweet memories of his childhood. The boy loses his ball and watches it bouncing down the street into the water. To us, the loss of a ball is of minor consequence but to the little boy, it was a valued possession. The poet here, deters himself saying that there are other balls because the boy wants the same ball. The ball had been with him for a long time and it was linked to the memories of the days when he played with it. The boy’s ball personifies his young days and happy innocence.

Stanza 2

An ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy

As he stand 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.

Explanation

When the young boy loses his ball, it bounces away and lands in the harbour. The boy is very much troubles a the loss of his ball and plunges into grief.

He stands stiff and trembling while staring at his ball. He is upset as he looks into the gloomy water because he cannot find the ball. The boy is deeply affected by the loss of his ball because it has been with him for a long time. When the ball bounces into the water all his memories of the childhood days flashes in front of him. This leads to a realisation that those moments would not come back, just like the ball. Further the poet doesn’t offer him money to buy another ball because that would be worthless.

Stanza 3

………………Now

He senses first responsibllity

In a world of possessions. People will take

Ball, ball will be lost always, little boy.

And no one buys a ball back. Money is external.

Explanation

The boy is upset when he looks into the gloomy water because he cannot find the ball. This when he gets his first sense of responsibility. The poet suggests that from the loss of the ball, the boy is learning what it means to lose something in a world of possessions where he will lose things, will buy some more to replace the ones lost, but would never be able to buy back the thing that he had lost. In this poem, the boy’s ball personifies his young days and happy innocence. The pet, thus, makes the boy understand about his responsibility as  the loss is immaterial. money is external as it cannot buy memories, nor can it replace the things that we love, the thins that really matter.

Stanza 4

He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,

This epistemology of loss, how to stand up

Knowing what every man must one day know

And most know many days, how to stand up.

Explanation

The poet suggests that from the loss of the ball, the boy is learning how to stand up in a world of possessions. The boy is learning what it means to lose something. The poet says that knowing that every man has to stand up after such losses, the boy too will learn how to stand up and leave the losses behind as he would have understood the true meaning and nature of loss.

Central Idea of Poem

The poet, John Berryman in ‘The Ball Poem’ describes the grief of a boy over the loss of his ball. With that loss he senses his first responsibility in a materialistic world; where those whom you love and your worldly possessions will not be with you forever. The poem shows how, all through your life, you will be forced to do things that you don’t want to do and you will lose or have to give up the things, that you love. But despite, this, you have to learn to stand up, to be strong and get on with your life – no matter how much it hurts inside. Because that is the only way you will survive. It thus, teaches us to learn accept and let go and not cling onto something that you can never have.

Poetic Devices Used in the Poem

Blank Verse : The poem is written in unrhymed lambic pentameter.

Consider the following lines from the 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!

Symbolism : A figure of speech where an object, person or situation has another meaning other than its literal meaning.

  • The ball symbolises the boy’s young and innocent days.

Repetition : Repetition of words/phrases in the same line.

What, what

Balls, balls

Alliteration : Repetition of initial consonant sounds in the same line.

  • What, what
  • Balls, balls
  • buys a ball back