Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions Poem 5 – The Ball Poem

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight (Textbook in English for class X) covering all question answers of lessons and poetry and Footprints without feet (Supplementary Reader) updated for new academic session.

Revision Notes Class 10 English

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED

Page No: 47 Thinking about the Poem

In pairs, attempt the following questions

1. Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?

Ans: The poet wants the boy to experience the loss. He should learn that it is the part of life. That’s why the poet doesn’t want to interfere and wants  the boy to be strong and handle the situation himself and doesn’t want to offer him money to buy another ball.

2. “… staring down/All his young days into the harbor where/His ball went…”Do you think the boy has had the ball for a long time? Is it linked to the memories of days when he played with it?

Ans: Yes, it seems like the boy has had the ball for a long time. When it bounced into the water, all his memories of the days of childhood flashed in front of him. This led to a realization that those moments would not come back, just like the ball. He can buy new balls and can  create new similar moments, but those that are gone, would not ever return.

3. What does “in the world of possessions” mean?

Ans: “In the world of possessions’ means people like to possess all sorts of things in the world. Money is an external thing because it can buy only material objects; it cannot buy everything that one loses or cannot bring back your long lost memories.

4. Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the words that suggest the answer.
Ans: No, it seems that the boy has not lost anything earlier. The words that suggest so are ,‘senses first responsibility in a world of possessions’.

5. What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words.

Ans: The poet says that the boy is learning to cope up with the loss of the ball. He is experiencing grief and learning to grow up in this world of possessions. He learns that there are so many things in life that get lost and cannot be brought back.But it is useless to feel sorrow for them and makes no sense to stop your life from moving ahead for the sake of those memories that are now bygone.