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The Ball Poem
Multiple Choice Questions and Answers
1. What does ‘the harbour’ stand for?
(a) A body of water
(b) Vastness of life
(c) Saga of emotions
(d) None of the above
Ans: (b) Vastness of life
2. ‘Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.’ What does John Berryman wish to convey in this line
(a) Boys always lose their belongings
(b) Loss of things is a fact of life
(c) It is ok to keep losing balls
(d) All of the above
Ans: (b) Loss of things is a fact of life
3. What does the poet want the reader to understand?
(a) It is easy to buy a ball
(b) A ball is an important part of a game
(c) Losing things is a common thing in life
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Ans: (c) Losing things is a common thing in life
4. Why is the young boy severely upset?
(a) Over the loss of his ball
(b) For not being able to play
(c) Because other boys don’t play with him
(d) All of the above
Ans: (a) Over the loss of his ball
5. How does the boy decide to face the world?
(a) Taking up his responsibilities
(b) Composing himself calmly
(c) Fighting for his rights
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Ans: (d) Both (a) and (b)
6. Why the loss of the ball symbolizes the loss of innocence and childhood?
(a) Like childhood, the lost ball can’t be retrieved.
(b) Like childhood, the ball is also small.
(c) Like childhood, the ball is amazing.
(d) None of the above
Ans: (a) Like childhood, the lost ball can’t be retrieved.
7. The boy keeps staring at the ball. What does this convey?
(a) Boy is helpless
(b) Boy is sad
(c) Boy is happy
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Ans: (d) Both (a) and (b)
8. In ‘The Ball Poem’ the poet says that people _____.
(a) are emotional fools
(b) will go on buying new balls
(c) do not understand each other
(d) None of the above
Ans: (b) will go on buying new balls
9. What does the boy ultimately realise?
(a) Goods once gone, do not come back
(b) Losing is a part of life
(c) One ball can be replaced by another
(d) Nothing is forever
Ans: (b) Losing is a part of life
10. Where has the boy lost his ball?
(a) in the water
(b) in the school
(c) in the fire
(d) at home
Ans: (a) in the water
11. What is the tone of the poem when the boy loses the ball?
(a) Sad
(b) Gloomy
(c) Happy
(d) Depressing
Ans: (d) Depressing
12. What does the poet say about this world is made of?
(a) possessions
(b) happiness
(c) joys
(d) troubles
Ans: (a) possessions
13. How does the boy feel when he loses his ball?
(a) confused
(b) shaken
(c) trembling
(d) all of the above
Ans: (d) all of the above
14. Why the loss of the ball is a great loss for boy?
(a) it was an expensive ball
(b) his parents will scold him
(c) he can buy a new ball, but it won’t be the same ball
(d) All of the above
Ans: (c) he can buy a new ball, but it won’t be the same ball
15. What meaning is the boy learning?
(a) meaning of loss
(b) meaning of life
(c) meaning of playing
(d) the meaning of happiness
Ans: (a) meaning of loss
16. Why are the boy’s eyes desperate?
(a) In search of a thing
(b) Because he is waiting for something
(c) Because he has lost his ball
(d) None of the above
Ans: (c) Because he has lost his ball
17. What does the ball in the poem symbolize?
(a) Prized possession
(b) Poet’s childhood
(c) Materialistic thing
(d) All of the above
Ans: (b) Poet’s childhood
18. Why does the poet say that money is external?
(a) Because it can buy emotions
(b) Because it cannot compensate for emotional loss
(c) Because it can be touched with hands
(d) Because it is not internal
Ans: (b) Because it cannot compensate for emotional loss
19. How can one live a fruitful and purposeful life?
(a) When we come out of depression
(b) When we buy fruits on daily basis
(c) When we enjoy life
(d) When we crib and cry over petty things
Ans: (a) When we come out of depression
20. What could the poet buy for the boy?
(a) book
(b) bag
(c) ball
(d) toys
Ans: (c) ball
Very Short Type Questions and Answers (Marks : 1)
1. Who wrote the poem “The Ball Poem”?
Ans: John Berryman wrote the poem “The Ball Poem”.
2. Who is the writer/author of the poem “The Ball Poem”?
Ans: John Berryman is the writer/author of the poem “The Ball Poem”.
3. What did the boy lose?
Ans: The boy lost his ball.
4. Where did the boy lost his ball?
Ans: The boy lost his ball down in the water.
5. What has happened to the boy?
Ans: The boy has lost his ball and now he has been grieved with sadness.
6. Why does the poet say ‘No use to say – ‘O there are other balls’?
Ans: The poet says ‘No use to say – ‘O there are other balls’ because other balls cannot take the place of the lost ball.
7. Which word means ‘happily’?
Ans: The word ‘merrily’ also means ‘happily’.
8. Where did the ball go?
Ans: The ball went bouncing down in the water.
9. What is the boy learning?
Ans: The boy is learning the epistemology of loss.
10. Why are the boy’s eyes desperate?
Ans: The boy’s eyes are desperate because he is trying to make out how to stand up against the loss.
11. What do you mean by ‘epistemology of loss’?
Ans: ‘Epistemology of loss’ means understanding the nature of loss and trying to understand what it means to lose something.
12. What does every man need to know one day?
Ans: Every man needs to know one day that losing something is a part of life and he must stand up against such losses.
Short Type Questions and Answers (Marks : 2)
1. Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer money to buy another ball?
Ans: The poet says, “I would not intrude on him” because the poet wants the boy to learn a lesson from the loss, to experience his first responsibility.
Though the poet can offer him a new ball, yet he does not because a new ball cannot replace the emotional attachment that the boy had with the old ball.
2. “…. staring down/All his young days into the harbour where/His ball went…” Do you think the boy has had the ball for a long time? Is it linked to the memories of days when he played with it?
Ans: The boy lost the ball in his childhood days and he used to mourn the loss all throughout his childhood days. The loss of the ball linked him up with the grief of loss in his childhood.
3. What does “in the world of possession” mean?
Ans: “In the world of possession” is used to indicate the materialistic world where all the people are busy to take possession of earthly objects. But the fact is that money is external that can buy only material things. Real happiness is something different from money or material possessions.
4. Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier?
Ans: No, the poem clearly shows that the boy had not lost anything earlier because the loss of his ball jeopardizes him in the grief of loss.
5. What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball?
Ans: The boy experiences a loss for the first time and it gave him many secret lessons. Loss is a paramount part of human life. But no one can stand by a loss, rather they will have to go ahead with the grief of loss. The boy is now experiencing his first responsibility in the world of possessions. He is understanding the meaning of loss for the first time.
