"The Ball Poem" is nicely composed by famous American poet John Berryman ---Full name John Allyn McAlpin Berryman --(b.1914---d.1972) . This poem is included in the syllabus of Tenth class .
The Ball Poem
(The poet sees a small boy who has lost his ball while playing . Now the boy is very sad and upset. .The poet says that a ball doesn’t cost much, nor is it difficult to buy another ball. Why then is the boy so upset?
Let's read the poem and find what the small boy is learning through this incident.
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':
( Merrily - प्रसन्नता पूर्वक , bouncing - उछालते हुए , the water- समुद्र )
कवि एक बंदरगाह के किनारे एक उदास लड़के को देखता है , जिसकी गेंद अभी - अभी पानी में खो गई है । लड़का अपनी गेंद को बड़ी ख़ुशी से उछाल - उछाल कर गली में खेल रहा था परन्तु अब यह गेंद पानी में जा गिरी है। लड़के को अपनी गेंद खो जाने का बहुत दुःख है और कवि भी यह अनुभव करता है। कवि सोचता है कि अब वह लड़का क्या करेगा। हालाँकि यह कोई बड़ा नुकसान नहीं था और वह लड़का कोई और गेंद लेकर भी खेल सकता है परन्तु फ़िलहाल ऐसा करने या कहने से भी कोई फायदा होगा। लड़के को अपनी वह गेंद काफी प्रिय थी। 
Stanza -2
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............
(Ultimate -परम , grief - शोक , rigid - कठोर ( बुत बना हुआ ), trembling - काँपता हुआ, harbour - बंदरगाह , intrude - हस्तक्षेप करना ,विघ्न डालना , dime - दस सेंट (पैसे) ( डॉलर का दसवाँ भाग ) worthless - बेकार)
गेंद के खो जाने से लड़के को गहरे दुःख का भाव जकड लेता है। वह बुत बना हुआ एकटक पानी में डूबी हुई गेंद को देखता है। गेंद को देखते हुए वह शोक से काँपता है। उसे लगता है कि उस गेंद के साथ उसके बचपन की कई स्मृतियाँ भी पानी में चली गई हैं। कवि कहता है कि वह उस लड़के के गहन चिंतन में कोई बाधा नहीं डालेगा। उस गेंद के बदले में कोई अन्य गेंद या कुछ पैसों की पेशकश करना भी व्यर्थ है।
Stanza-3
.........................................Now
He senses first responsibility
In a world of possessions. People will take
Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.
(senses - महसूस करना , responsibility - जिम्मेदारी , possessions - अधिकार )
कवि जानता है कि वह लड़का इस घटना से जिंदगी का एक महत्वपूर्ण सबक सीख रहा है। अधिकार की भावना से भरे इस भौतिकवादी संसार में वह अपनी जिम्मेदारी को गहनता से अनुभव करता है। संसार के लोग गेंद के रूप में सदैव उसकी प्रिय वस्तुओं को उससे छीनते रहेंगे और नुकसान पहुंचाते रहेंगे। एक बार जो वस्तु खो जाती है वह सदा के लिए खो जाती है अर्थात वह लड़का अब भौतिक हानि के नुकसान को सहन करना भी सीख रहा है।
Stanza-4
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.
*(More than one explanations )
( external -बाहरी , desperate- निराश , मायूस , epistemology -ज्ञान वाद )
लड़का यह भी सीख रहा है कि एक बार जो गेंद (भौतिक वस्तु ) खो जाती है तो कोई भी उसे दोबारा प्राप्त नहीं कर सकता। भौतिकवादी संसार में पैसे का महत्व बहुत है और हमें किसी भी नई वस्तु को प्राप्त करने के पैसे की आवश्यकता होती है। लड़का अपनी निराश , मायूस आँखों से अपनी खोई हुई गेंद को देखते हुए हानि या क्षति के गहन ज्ञान को सीख रह रहा है । प्रत्येक मनुष्य को अपने जीवन में लाभ और हानि के इस ज्ञान को जानना पड़ता है। खोना और पाना मानव जीवन के अनिवार्य अंग है और सभी को इसे एक साधारण -सी बात मानकर स्वीकार करना चाहिए।
(और जब लड़के को यह ज्ञान प्राप्त हो जाता है तो वह गेंद को पानी में ही छोड़कर व भूलकर वापस गली में भाग जाता है।)
Comprehension passage for practice:-
Ex1.
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!
Que.
1. From which poem, these lines have been taken?
2. Who is the poet of this poem?
3. What has the boy lost?
4. Where is his ball now?
5. Find the words from the stanza which mean
(i) happily (ii) jumping
Ans.
1. These lines have been taken from the poem, " The Ball Poem".
2. John Berryman
3. He has lost his ball .
4. His ball has gone into the water.
5. (i) merrily (ii) bouncing
Ex2.
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.............
Que.
1. What fixes the boy after the loss of his ball ?
2. Where does the boy stare at?
3.What comes to his mind when he looks at the ball?
4. Why does the poet not offer him a dime or another ball?
5. Find from the stanza words which means the same --
(i) final (ii) stiff
Ans.
1. An ultimate grief fixes the boy.
2. He stare at harbour where his ball has gone.
3. The sense of loss comes to his mind that he will never get his ball again.
4. Because he thinks it will be useless to do so .
5. (i) ultimate (ii) rigid
Ex3.
........................................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.
Que.
1.Name the poem and the poet.
2. What does the boy sense ?
3. What does the poet mean to say ,"world of possession"?
4. What is meant by ." Money is external"?
5. What does the poet mean by saying." Balls will be lost always"?
Ans.
1. Name of the poem is " The Ball Poem" and the name of the poet is John Berryman .
2. The boy senses his first responsibility .
3. He means to say that every person in this world likes to collect things which are always dear to him.
4. It is meant that money can replace the lost things .
5. He means that nothing in this world is permanent. A thing once lost is lost forever.
Short Ans Type Exercise:-
Q1. Why does the poet say , "I would not intrude on him." Why doesn't he offer him money to buy another ball?
Ans. The poet wants that the boy should realise himself that gains and losses are part and parcel ( अत्यंत महत्वपूर्ण हिस्सा ) of life. And the boy is learning this important lesson .Therefore , the poet neither interferes him nor offers him money to buy another ball.
Q2. 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. Yes, the ball had been with him since his childhood. He felt that all his young days had been gone with that ball .
Q3. What does ' in the world of possessions ' mean?
Ans. It means that the world is full of material objects. Every person in this world likes to collect things which are always dear to him. But these are not eternal .
Q4. Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier ? How do you know this?
Ans. No, the boy hasn't lost anything earlier . We know that " He senses first responsibility" is used by the poet.
Q5. What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball?
Ans. The boy is in a grief. But he is learning his first lesson of how to put up with a material loss. He is also learning that gains and losses are part and parcels of life. The things once lost are lost for ever. There is no use to grieve over them.
Rajender Tanwar
PGT English
GGSSS KAIRU Bhiwani
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