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Poet: John Berryman (John Berryman Art)
Poem: The Ball Poem
Volume: Collected Poems 1937-1971
Comment 9 of 9, added on June 16th, 2009 at 3:20 PM.
This seems to be a type of “initiation” poem, exploring what it feels like both to possess something and to lose it. The exaggerated language the poet uses to imagine the boy’s reaction to his loss ("an ultimate shaking grief," "staring down/All his young days," and "the epistemology of loss") works to suggest the boy’s innocence relative to the grown man’s knowledge of “deeper” losses. The poet’s hyperbolic description of the boy’s response isn’t distracting or out of place because it is clear from the beginning that the speaker is projecting his own nostalgic feelings onto the boy he observes.
In a sense, this is quite a doom-and-gloom poem, foreshadowing the lousy experiences the boy has coming to him: “People will take balls, / Balls will be lost always, little boy.” Clearly, the poet is referring to losses far more difficult to deal with that the boy will have. The direct address to the boy is interesting because even as the speaker uses it, it is unlikely he would ever say this to the boy in real life—i.e. “you think that’s bad, little boy? Wait til your marriage fails.” No, this is more about a simple moment observed clarifying a painful feeling for the speaker.
There is also hope that briefly visits the melancholic poem. The speaker says the boy is learning “What every man must one day know / And most know many days, how to stand up / And gradually light returns to the street.” I like the careful word choice here—“most know many days,” because it leaves room for those that don’t stand up at all, or who have days they can and days they can’t.
I am intrigued by the lines, “Soon part of me will explore the deep and dark / Floor of the harbour…I am everywhere.” I wonder if “I am everywhere” refers to the losses the speaker has experienced, and that a part of him is taken away with everything he loses—thus, the more he loses, the more his self is fragmented, and though he learns to “stand up,” there is part of him that still explores “the deep and dark / Floor of the harbour,” hoping to recover what he has lost. I find this to be the most beautiful idea of the poem, whether I have interpreted it loosely and foolishly or not.
sarab from United States
Comment 8 of 9, added on May 21st, 2009 at 9:43 PM.
this is one hot delcicious story about little children. I love the part where the kids father puts his sons balls in his mouth. MMMMMMMMMM. Wish I could have a taste!
harry from Barbados
Comment 7 of 9, added on June 3rd, 2007 at 4:01 PM.
See how you laugh at the poem when you get a little older and begin to understand what it's about. Age happens to everybody, and it is unfortunate you are considered an AP student, in my opinion. As for your teacher, he or she is the only "atrocious excuse" I see from your post and probably belongs in a high school, among such delusional idiots as you and your "gifted" fellow students.
Cswart from United States
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Comments
This seems to be a type of “initiation” poem, exploring what it feels like both to possess something and to lose it. The exaggerated language the poet uses to imagine the boy’s reaction to his loss ("an ultimate shaking grief," "staring down/All his young days," and "the epistemology of loss") works to suggest the boy’s innocence relative to the grown man’s knowledge of “deeper” losses. The poet’s hyperbolic description of the boy’s response isn’t distracting or out of place because it is clear from the beginning that the speaker is projecting his own nostalgic feelings onto the boy he observes.
In a sense, this is quite a doom-and-gloom poem, foreshadowing the lousy experiences the boy has coming to him: “People will take balls, / Balls will be lost always, little boy.” Clearly, the poet is referring to losses far more difficult to deal with that the boy will have. The direct address to the boy is interesting because even as the speaker uses it, it is unlikely he would ever say this to the boy in real life—i.e. “you think that’s bad, little boy? Wait til your marriage fails.” No, this is more about a simple moment observed clarifying a painful feeling for the speaker.
There is also hope that briefly visits the melancholic poem. The speaker says the boy is learning “What every man must one day know / And most know many days, how to stand up / And gradually light returns to the street.” I like the careful word choice here—“most know many days,” because it leaves room for those that don’t stand up at all, or who have days they can and days they can’t.
I am intrigued by the lines, “Soon part of me will explore the deep and dark / Floor of the harbour…I am everywhere.” I wonder if “I am everywhere” refers to the losses the speaker has experienced, and that a part of him is taken away with everything he loses—thus, the more he loses, the more his self is fragmented, and though he learns to “stand up,” there is part of him that still explores “the deep and dark / Floor of the harbour,” hoping to recover what he has lost. I find this to be the most beautiful idea of the poem, whether I have interpreted it loosely and foolishly or not.
sarab from United States