The Ball Poem

By John Berryman

Presentation by Aaditya Pratap

This Presentation Contains

 About the author

 Summary of the poem
 Theme of the poem
 Literary devices used in the poem
About the author : John Berryman

 John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.;

October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet
and scholar.
 He was a major figure in American poetry in the second
half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in the
“confessional” school of poetry.
 Berryman's early work formed part of a volume titled Five
Young American Poets, published by New Directions in
1940". One of the other young poets included in the book
was Randall Jarrell.
 Berryman's first major work, in which he began to develop
his own style, was Homage to Mistress Bradstreet.
 Summary of The Ball Poem
 John Berryman, an eminent poet, has written the poem ‘The Ball’ where a boy is very much
fond of his ball. He likes to play with it all day.
 One day, he was playing with the ball. He misbalanced and the ball fell in the river nearby.
The boy lost his ball and felt sorry.
 It was the first time he understood what loss can be in his life. The Summary of Ball Poem
tells us that it happens the same when we lose someone close to us or something we consider
very valuable. This is what grief looks like.
 In the eyes of an adult, the lost ball can be replaced easily but for the kid, that ball is special.
The same stands for an adult losing someone very close or something very valuable in life.
Things that are irreplaceable cause more grief when lost.
 That little boy felt the pain of losing his favorite ball. The grownups will not be able to
understand why the boy is feeling so much pain when the same ball can be gifted to him.
 It also stands the same for us when we lose something or someone we love. The same feeling
will be lost with the person/thing we just lost.
Theme of The Ball Poem

 This poem is about losing something which we love and then learning to grow up.
 It is about a little boy, who in his young life, for the first time, is learning what it is like to
experience grief after the loss of a much-beloved possession which is here his ball.
 Maybe for us, the loss of a ball is of minor consequence. Our natural reaction may be that
still there are many more balls.
 So, need not worry. But to a little boy, this is something different. One can get another ball
with a very less amount of money.
 But, money is external and immortal here, as it cannot buy back the love and hence cannot
replace the things that we love.
Literary devices used in The Ball Poem

These are the following literary devices used in the ball poem:

 Anaphora: Use of repeated words in two or more lines (What is the boy… what, what and
merrily bouncing… merrily over).
 Imagery: When poet says merrily bouncing down the street.
 Alliteration: Use of sound ‘b’ at the start of two consecutive words (buys a ball back).
 Assonance: Use of vowel sound ‘e’ (He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes).
 Repetition: Repeated use of vowel ‘o’ (boy, now, who, lost) and ‘ball’ word is repeated.