The Ball Poem – Important Questions

The Ball Poem is written in Blank Verse. This poem is about losing something that you love, and learning to grow up. It is about a little boy, who, for the first time in his young life, is learning what it is like to experience grief at the loss of a much beloved possession – his ball.

Important Question and Answers

Q. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

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. What has the boy lost?
   1. toy
   2. ball
   3. toy car
   4. bat
2. Where did the ball fall into?
   1. water
   2. pond
   3. river
   4. pit
3. For the loss of which thing the boy felt grieved and helpless?
   1. toy car
   2. video game
   3. bat
   4. ball
4. After losing the ball he:
   1. is worried
   2. doesn’t care
   3. is not concerned
   4. is in a fix what to do
5. The poet saw the ball merrily bouncing down the _________.
6. Finally the ball fell into __________.
7. Who is the poet?
   1. John Berryman
   2. Robin Klein
   3. Walt Whitman
   4. Adreinne Rich

Answer

1. ball
2. water
3. ball
4. in a fix what to do
5. street
6. the water
7. John Berryman

Q. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

An ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down.
All his young days in to the harbour where
His ball bent I would not intrude on him,
A dime another ball, is worthless.
Now He senses first responsibility
In a words of possessions.

1. The boy is in grief because his ball has been ______________.
   1. stolen
   2. misplaced
   3. broken
   4. lost
2. The boy feels ______________ and stands rigid because he is thinking about his days when he was young.
   1. troubled
   2. happy
   3. sorry
   4. helpless
3. The poet does not offer to give him the new ball because he wants to teach him the value of ______________.
   1. duty
   2. authority
   3. responsibility
   4. money
4. Who senses his first responsibility in?
   1. The girl
   2. The boy
   3. The poet
   4. The reader

Answer

1. lost
2. troubled
3. responsibility
4. The boy

Q. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

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.

1. Who is ‘I’ in the poem?
   1. a boy
   2. reader
   3. poet
   4. another child
2. The poet does not want to interfere as he wants the child to learn to bear the _________.
   1. loss
   2. load
   3. unhappiness
   4. responsibility
3. This will help the child in understanding his ___________.
   1. responsibility
   2. sharing
   3. duty
   4. assets
4. Giving another ball to the child is ____________.
   1. senseless
   2. worthless
   3. useless
   4. harmless

Answer

1. poet
2. loss
3. responsibility
4. worthless

Q. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

I would not intrude on him,
A dime, another ball, is worthless.
Now He sense first responsibility
In a world of possessions.

1. Who does not want to intrude on him?
   1. The poet
   2. The boy
   3. Boy’s friend
   4. Boy’s mother
2. About which sense is mentioned in the lines?
   1. possessiveness
   2. responsibility
   3. knowledge
   4. sharing
3. A world of possessions means ________________.
   1. world of deception
   2. world of fantasy
   3. world of materialism
   4. world of reality
4. Give antonym of word ‘responsibility’.
   1. freedom
   2. duty
   3. irresponsibility
   4. non responsibility

Answer

1. The poet
2. responsibility
3. world of materialism
4. irresponsibility

Q. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

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.

1. Whose eyes are desperate?
   1. The poet’s
   2. The boy’s
   3. His friend’s
   4. None of them
2. Find the word from the passage which means same as ‘interfering into something’.
   1. worthless
   2. possessions
   3. intrude
   4. responsibility
3. Losing the ball teaches the boy to become ____________.
   1. grown up
   2. responsible
   3. mature
   4. strong
4. Giving another ball to the boy is ____________.
   1. worthless
   2. sensible
   3. correct
   4. wrong

Answer

1. The boy’s
2. intrude
3. responsible
4. worthless

Q. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

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. The boy has lost ____________.
   1. a ball
   2. a bat
   3. a bag
   4. a bottle
2. Find the word from the passage which means same as ‘study of knowledge’.
   1. intrude
   2. epistemology
   3. possession
   4. rigid
3. According to the poet, every man should know how to overcome the ____________.
   1. profit
   2. difficulties
   3. problems
   4. loss
4. The lost of ball has taught the boy the ____________ of responsibility.
   1. idea
   2. pain
   3. lesson
   4. sense

Answer

1. a ball
2. epistemology
3. loss
4. sense

Q. ‘He senses first responsibility? What responsibility is referred to here?

Ans. The poet thinks that it is of no use to purchase another ball. The child must feel his responsibility of taking care of his things and learn to cope up with the loss.

Q. What is the deep meaning hidden in the poem “The Ball Poem?

Ans. The deep meaning of the poem is that our childhood quickly flies as here a ball is lost. Also we grow up unsuspectedly and face hardships like loss.

Q. What is the boy’s state of mind at the loss of his ball?

Ans. The boy is very disturbed at the loss of his ball. He keeps staring at the ball with his desperate eyes.

Q. Pick out the words that suggest that the boy has not lost anything earlier.

Ans. The words that suggest that the boy has not lost anything earlier are “He senses first responsibility in a world of possessions.”