The Ball Poem Class 10 MCQ Quiz – Test Your Understanding!

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!

The extract suggests that the poet is

What is the significance of the ball in the poem?

What does the poet mean by "the epistemology of loss"?

Why does the poet say, "No use to say 'O there are other balls'"?

What does the loss of the ball symbolize in the poem?

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

What does the boy learn by losing the ball, according to the extract?

1. Loss is the unavoidable truth of life.
2. Material objects can be replaced.
3. Money buys happiness.
4. Losses in life can be prevented with care.
5. Life continues despite losses.

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!

Choose the situation that corresponds to the emotion behind the exclamation mark in the poem.

How does the boy's reaction to losing the ball reflect his understanding of life?

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

The poet uses the ball as a symbol of the boy’s

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;

Choose the option that lists the meaning of ‘harbour’ as used in the extract.

Noun:

1. a place on the coast where ships may moor in shelter.
2. a place of refuge.

Verb:

3. keep (a thought or feeling, typically a negative one) in one's mind, especially secretly.
4. shelter or hide (a criminal or wanted person).

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

The poet says money is external. What does it mean in this extract?

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;

The boy is very young in this poem. As a mature, balanced grown-up, he might look back and think that his reaction of ‘ultimate shaking grief’ was

1. disproportionate to the loss.
2. pretension to procure a new toy.
3. according to his exposure and experience then.
4. a reaction to the failure of retrieving the toy.
5. justified and similar to what it would be currently.

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

The word that DOES NOT indicate a physical manifestation of sorrow in the boy, is

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!

The poet seems to have indicated the merry bouncing of the ball to

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

‘Merrily over — there it is in the water!’ The dash here is meant to convey