Class 10 || The Ball Poem || John Berryman || A complete Explanation ||

 

The Ball Poem

About the  Poet of The Ball Poem

The Name of the poet is John Berryman. He was Born on October 25, 1914, at  McAlester,  in Oklahoma, US. And he died on January 7, 

1972 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

He got his education at Columbia University  in the year of 1936, in Columbia College

 He was awarded with Bollingen Awards, and  National Poetry Book Award

Theme of the Poem

This poem is about losing what you love and learning to grow.

Explanation of the Poem

 The poem starts with a boy. The boy was playing with his ball. He was bouncing the ball in the air up and down. The boy was merrily enjoying the game. While bouncing, all of sudden it fell in the water and was lost.

  For the first time in his life, the boy is learning what it means to suffer from the loss of possession, which he loves the most. For us, losing the ball is a small incident, and our response is to say, "There are other balls." But for a child, that’s not the case. In 10 cents another ball can be purchased, it's worth nothing. Money is external, it cannot buy our love back or replace the things we love: what really matters.

 

Watch this video of this poem

In this poem, the poet wants to  depicts the innocence of his youth and happiness. In this world, people take balls and force us to grow in the same way that our innocence is removed. And once we lose the innocence, we can't get it back ever. The balls are always lost, baby, and no one buys the ball.

 

This poem tells us  how, throughout the life, we all are forced to do things that we  do not want to do; And we all  have to lose or sacrifice the things that  you love. But, despite this, we all must learn stand up, be strong and keep going no matter how painful life is inside. Because that’s the only way to survive; We all have to learn to accept and let go and never hold onto something you never had.