Analysis of “The Ball Poem”
In “The Ball Poem,” John Berryman tells about growing up by metaphorically comparing a ball to our childhood. A young child loses his ball; it bounces away and lands in the harbor. He is upset when he looks into the gloomy water because he cannot find the ball. This is when he gets his first sense of responsibility. John Berryman compares losing the ball to losing our childhood where the ball is our youth. When the poem says: “And no one buys a ball back” means that people can’t buy childhood and time. The past is gone and it will never come back. Another important aspect of this poem is how it connects to loss. As we grow older we experience more loss. Our pets, our grandparents, our parents, and eventually ourselves will die as we age. When the boy cannot find the ball, he must stand up to the loss: “He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,/ The epistemology of loss, how to stand up/ Knowing what every man must one day know… I am not a little boy.” This quote illustrates how the boy must grow up into a man. Playing with balls is a child’s game and when the ball is gone, he’s no longer a child. He now bears “the epistemology of loss.” In “The Ball Poem”, Berryman tells us about how our childhood can quickly fly by, as quickly as a ball is lost, and how we sometimes unsuspectingly must grow up and face hardships, like loss.
The Ball Poem
By John Berryman
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':
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. 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.
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
And gradually light returns to the street
A whistle blows, the ball is out of sight,
Soon part of me will explore the deep and dark
Floor of the harbour . . .I am everywhere,
I suffer and move, my mind and my heart move
With all that move me, under the water
Or whistling, I am not a little boy.
