Reference to the Context

Read the following stanzas and answer the given questions :

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 !

GLOSSARY Merrily : happily; bouncing : jumping.

PARAPHRASE The poet is standing near the harbour when he sees that a young boy’s ball is rolling away
from him. It bounces happily on its way, and finally falls into the water. He asks the readers what the
boy should do now that his ball is gone.

QUESTIONS

(a) How does the boy react after he sees his ball rolling down the water .?

Ans. The boy is confused as to what he should do.

(b)) What has happened to the ball .?

Ans. The ball has slipped off the boy’s hands and has rolled down into the water.

(6) What does the poet think at this moment .?

Ans. He thinks of ’going to the boy and console him.

(d) there it is in the water. . . What kind of water is mentioned here .9

Ans. It is the water near the harbour.

3% {2} the

No use to say ‘0 there are other balls’ :

A72 ultimate shakingr grief fixes the boy

As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down All his young days into the harbour where His ball went.

GLOSSARY Ultimate : final; grief : sorrow; rigid : hard; trembling : shaking; harbour : port. PARAPHRASE

The poet thinks of consoling the boy by telling him that there will be other balls just like that one

Reference to the Context

Read the following stanzas and answer the given questions :

M1} h What is the boy now, who has lost his ball, What, what is he to do .9 I saw it go Merrily bouncing,
down the street, and then Merrily over -there it is in the water !
GLOSSARY Merrily : happily; bouncing : jumping. PARAPHRASE The poet is standing near the harbour
when he sees that a young boy’s ball is rolling away from him. It bounces happily on its way, and finally
falls

into the water. He asks the readers what the boy should do now that his ball is gone.

QUESTIONS

(a) How does the boy react after he sees his ball rolling down the water .?

Ans. The boy is confused as to what he should do. (1)) What has happened to the ball .?

Ans. The ball has slipped off the boy’s hands and has rolled down into the water.

(6) What does the poet think at this moment .?

Ans. He thinks of ’going to the boy and console him.

(d) there it is in the water. . . What kind of water is mentioned here .9

Ans. It is the water near the harbour.

3% {2} the

No use to say ‘0 there are other balls’ :

A72 ultimate shakingr grief fixes the boy

As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down All his young days into the harbour where His ball went.

GLOSSARY Ultimate : final; grief : sorrow; rigid : hard; trembling : shaking; harbour : port. PARAPHRASE

The poet thinks of consoling the boy by telling him that there will be other balls just like that one

and that he will get one sooner or later. But he knows that such false consolation will not make the boy
feel any better. He notices that the boy is grief stricken and his body is trembling with the pain of loss. As
he watches the ball go into the harbour and down in the water, he feels as if his childhood has also
slipped away from him.

QUESTIONS

(a) . How do people generally com art a boy who has lost his ball .?

Ans. People generally comfort him by saying, “There are other balls.”

(1)) Why is the boy sofull 0" grz’g” .9

Ans. Because he has lost his clear ball.

(6) Which literary device has been used in thefourth line .9

Ans. Metaphor. his young days into the harbour

(d) What lesson qf lg'fe has the boy learnt .9

Ans. He has learnt that losses are part of life.

{3} I would not intrude on him; A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now

He senses first responsibility In a world of possessions.

GLOSSARY

Intrude : interfere; dime : a coin; worthless : useless; world of possessions : materialistic world.

PARAPHRASE

Although torn between dilemma, the poet feels that it would be wrong to go up to the boy and intrude
on his solitude. Giving him money to purchase another ball will not hold any .Value for him. The poet
feels that the little boy is undergoing 3 transformation when he is coming to the realisation of
responsibility. In this world of possessions, all things are temporary and their loss is natural! T he boy
has begun to understand that bearing the loss without much fret or regret is also one’5 responsibility.
QUESTIONS

(a) How could the poet intrude .? Ans. He could intrude by comforting him and

consoling him. (b) What is a ‘dz'me’ E Ans. a coin

(c) How does the boy sense regbonsz'bility ?

Ans. He senses responsibility when his possessed ball is lost.

(d) In a world of possessions. Explain.

Ans. It is a materialistic world.

.s I {4} W. People will take

Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy. And 720 one buys a ball back. Money is external.

GLOSSARY External : of the outside.

PARAPHRASE '

The poet says that material things like a ball are temporary. Things like money don’t stay with one
forever; They keep moving from one person to the other. One particular thing in your possession today
might be in some other’s ownership tomorrow. Here, the ‘ball’ is a symbol for all of one’s possessions,
and the poet is saying that we will certainly lose them one day and that they cannot be easily replaced.
QUESTIONS 9 ((1) My does the poet my ‘balls will be lost always’ .? Ans. The poet wants to say that the
loss of dear A things is a fact of life. _ (b) Why does the poet say that no one buys a ball back .9 Ans. The
poet says that no one can buy the ball back because it is lost. He means to say that money cannot
compensate the sense of loss. (5) What does tizepoet mean by ‘Money is erternal’ .? Ans. It means that
it always meant to be spent. (“9 Find out thepoetz'c device used in the last line. Ans, Alliteration -buys a
ball back

:33 {5} E7“ He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes, The epistemology 9]“ loss, how to stand up
Knowing what every man must one day know And most know many days, how to stand up.

GLOSSARY
iesPerate : hopeless; epistemology : science 0f 'OWIedge.

PARAPHRASE

_ The poet says that although‘there is too much sadness in the boy’s eyes, but he is learning an .
important lesson that losses are part of life. He is also learning a lesson that we should not bend or

break at such losses, rather we should accept them and move on.

' QUESTIONS . ( a ) W hat is the boy learning ? Ans. The boy is learning to cope, up With. the loss. (b) W
by are boy’s eyes desperate .? ~ h Ans. Boy’s eyes look desperate as he is sad to see his ball gone
forever. (6) W hat do you mean by ‘epz'stemology of loss’ .?

Ans. ‘Epistemology of loss’ means to understand the nature of loss; (d) What every man needs to know
one day .3

Ans. Every man needs to know one day that loss may occur to him and he would have to bear it up.

(c) How does the boy sense regbonsz'bility ?

Ans. He senses responsibility when his possessed ball is lost.

(d) In a world of possessions. Explain.

Ans. It is a materialistic world.

.s I {4} W. People will take

Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy. And 720 one buys a ball back. Money is external.

GLOSSARY External : of the outside.

PARAPHRASE '

The poet says that material things like a ball are temporary. Things like money don’t stay with one
forever; They keep moving from one person to the other. One particular thing in your possession today
might be in some other’s ownership tomorrow. Here, the ‘ball’ is a symbol for all of one’s possessions,
and the poet is saying that we will certainly lose them one day and that they cannot be easily replaced.
QUESTIONS 9 ((1) My does the poet my ‘balls will be lost always’ .? Ans. The poet wants to say that the
loss of dear A things is a fact of life. _ (b) Why does the poet say that no one buys a ball back .9 Ans. The
poet says that no one can buy the ball back because it is lost. He means to say that money cannot
compensate the sense of loss. (5) What does tizepoet mean by ‘Money is erternal’ .? Ans. It means that
it always meant to be spent. (“9 Find out thepoetz'c device used in the last line. Ans, Alliteration -buys a
ball back

:33 {5} E7“ He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes, The epistemology 9]“ loss, how to stand up
Knowing what every man must one day know And most know many days, how to stand up.

GLOSSARY

iesPerate : hopeless; epistemology : science 0f 'OWIedge.