THE BALL POEM

JOHN BERRYMAN
Before we start, let’s
think…

* How do you feel when you lose

any of your favourite things?

*Is it easy to get through the feeling

of loss?

*How can you overcome the grief

and move ahead?
 About the Poet

John Berryman
(October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972)

> An American poet and scholar.

> Born in McAlester, Oklahoma.

> He was a major figure in American poetry in the second

half of the 20th century.

>John Berryman is an incredibly interesting writer who is

best-known from his “Dream Songs,” a collection of 385
“songs” that expanded throughout his lifetime.
INTRODUCTION:
While on the surface ‘The Ball Poem’ initially appears simple, it’s actually quite impactful and intense
the deeper one digs into the content.

‘The Ball Poem’ by John Berryman is a surprisingly complex poem about growing up and losing things
one cares about. This poem can be interpreted both literally and metaphorically. If taken literally, it is a
soulful picture of little boys growing up and learning to deal with the loss of the first thing he has ever
held dear. If taken metaphorically, it is the story of mankind learning to deal with the loss of their loved
ones. The ball is a metaphor for everything that we think is irreplaceable in our lives. It is obvious that
anything that is irreplaceable is very valuable to us, and it is our responsibility to take care of those
things. People taking away one’s ball or one’s ball getting lost is a metaphor for death. What is most
precious to us is a person whom we love dearly. Hence, we always try to take care of them. But sooner
or later, every man must die, for man is a mortal creature. There is nothing we can do to stop this
process, and hence it is something we must learn to deal with. Loss of a loved one can spell a period of
intense grief and depression for some of us. However, just like the little boy is brought back to his
senses by the sound of the whistle, we must overcome our grief and keep living. The poet’s message is
that life goes on despite the death of our loved ones.
 The Ball Poem
-John Berryman
What is the boy now, who has lost his ball. And no one buys a ball back. Money is external.
What, what is he to do? I saw it go He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,
Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then The epistemology of loss, how to stand up
Merrily over—there it is in the water! Knowing what every man must one day know
No use to say 'O there are other balls': And most know many days, how to stand up
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,

Let us now begin 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!

1. Merrily: cheerfully, happily

2. Bouncing: jumping up and down
Explanation
The poet is talking about a boy who has lost his ball.

He has seen the ball going away from the boy.
He thinks what will the boy do now.
The poet says that the ball was cheerfully jumping up and down
and it went down the street.
 He means that the ball has unknowingly skipped from boy’s
hand.
It went to the street and later on, fell into the nearby water (may
be a river or pond).
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

1. Grief: sorrow, sadness

2. Rigid: fixed, without moving
3. Trembling: shaking
4. Harbour: dock, port
5. Stare: look for a long time
6. Intrude: invade, enter without permission
7. Dime: 10 cents (U.S)
8. Worthless: valueless, useless
Explanation
The boy learns his first responsibility

The poet says that there is no use telling the boy that
he has other balls.
He says so because the boy feels very sad.
He feels that all memories of his childhood went down the
harbour with the ball.
The boy remembers the time he had the ball. Its loss touches
him deep and he is very sad.
The poet says that he will not interfere and tell the boy,
to get another ball which costs just a dime.
It is time the boy learns his first responsibility- the responsibility
to take care of his things.
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. Possessions: ownership
2. External: outside something
3. Desperate: hopeless
4. Epistemology: the theory of knowledge,
Explanation
The poet is showing the reality of life and the world around

 He says that the boy has to learn that in this materialistic

world, like the ball, many of his belongings will be lost.
 It can be things or relationships- which no one can buy back
for him.
 Money cannot buy everything. It can buy you some
materialistic things, but it will not be able to buy the sense of
belongingness.
 The boy is learning how to stand up against the sense of loss
of things. He has to learn the real truth of life that he has to
accept loss in life and stand up again.
 This is the truth which everyone has to learn one day- how to
face and stand up against the difficult problems in life
POETIC DEVICES

1. Personification: Human characteristics are given to non-human or

inanimate things.
ball merrily bouncing down the street
‘Merry’ means ‘happy’. It is a human characteristic which is given to
the ball.
2. Anaphora: use of repeated words in two or more lines (What is the boy… what,
what and merrily bouncing… merrily over)

3. Metaphor: Word or phrase is symbolically used to convey an idea.

balls will be lost always
‘Ball’ here symbolizes possessions which we lose. It also refers to the
childhood which if lost never comes back.
POETIC DEVICES

4.Assonance: repeated use of vowel ‘o’ (boy, now, who, lost)

5.Imagery: when poet says merrily bouncing down the street

6.Repetition: ‘what’ is repeated/Ball

7. Enjambment: It is the continuation of a sentence without a pause
beyond the end of a line or stanza. Ex:
I saw it go merrily, merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
Merrily over — there it is in the water!

8. Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of

adjacent or closely connected words. Ex:
who has lost his ball (/h/ sound)
no one buys a ball back (/b/ sound)

9. Symbolism: It is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

In the poem, ball and balls represent childhood, possessions and even
the father of poet
10.Asyndeton: no use of conjunction in a sentence (A dime, another ball, is
worthless)

11. Apostrophe: It is a literary device in which a person is addressed

who is either dead or physically not present. In the poem, the poet
says, “balls will be lost aways, little boy“. The boy is physically not
present with the poet.

12.Transferred epithet: in the 15th line when he writes the phrase

“desperate eyes”. It is not that the eyes of the boy are sad, but that the
boy itself is sad and that his eyes are expressing that emotion on his
face.

RHYME SCHEME:FREE VERSE

Major Themes

 The boy represents all children growing up and learning to deal with the
loss of the first thing they have ever held dear.
 All human beings shall one day learn to deal with the loss of their favourite
things or their loved ones.
 The ball is a metaphor for everything that we think is irreplaceable in our
lives. Anything that is irreplaceable is very valuable to us, and it is our
responsibility to take care of those things. But once in a while they get
lost.
 There is nothing we can do to stop the loss, and hence it is something we
must learn to deal with.
 The poet’s message is that life goes on despite the loss of or dearest
things or the death of our loved ones.
 Death may grieve us or cause us to feel depressed, but sooner or later we
must overcome those feelings and start living our normal lives again.
 TONE
The tone of this poem is very somber and sad. The way in
which the poet describes the boy’s feelings upon losing the
ball makes us feel great sympathy for the boy. Even more
than that, we can all relate to the experience that the boy
is going through. That is perhaps why the poem does not
overly depress us. The resignation that the boy feels can
also be felt by us since death is not something that any
man can escape.