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

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.

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

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 ‘harbour’ DOES NOT have a meaning similar to

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

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!

Alliteration is a literary device that occurs with the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Pick the option that showcases an example of alliteration from the 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 poet uses the word ‘ultimate’ to describe the boy’s reaction.

Pick the meaning that DOES NOT display what, ‘ultimate’ means in the context given.

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.

Choose the option that CORRECTLY identifies what the narrator is feeling in the line given below.

As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down

1. guilt
2. shock
3. shame
4. fearlessness
5. hopelessness

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

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 boy is learning how to stand up…

This means that he is learning to be _____ in the face of difficulties.

What is the central theme of The Ball Poem?

Pick the option that lists the boy’s thoughts, matching with the line -

As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down.

What is the significance of the ball in the poem?