English Notes Latest Questions

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    Sulking means bad-tempered. Amanda seems to be sulking in the end (as her mother says). However she is not. She is an innocent girl who desires freedom and peace. Her mother keeps shouting at her and commands her to obey her order. Amanda is tired of hearing harsh words of her mother which make herRead more

    Sulking means bad-tempered. Amanda seems to be sulking in the end (as her mother says). However she is not. She is an innocent girl who desires freedom and peace. Her mother keeps shouting at her and commands her to obey her order.

    Amanda is tired of hearing harsh words of her mother which make her bad-tempered, moody and sulky.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Best Answer
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The central idea of the poem Amanda is that the parents who do not understand the nature of their children. They keep giving commands to their children. They want them (their children) adopt the norms of society. This has adverse impact on the upbringing of the children. Amanda seems to be escapingRead more

    The central idea of the poem Amanda is that the parents who do not understand the nature of their children. They keep giving commands to their children. They want them (their children) adopt the norms of society.

    This has adverse impact on the upbringing of the children. Amanda seems to be escaping in the beginning, however in the end she stops imagining and rather becomes short-tempered, moody and angry.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The title of the poem i.e. The Ball Poem is very symbolic and has deep meaning behind it. A young child who is not aware of harsh realities of life. He keeps enjoying by playing with his ball. He develops an emotional attachment with it. Hence, when he loses the ball, he gets sorrowful and sad. He wRead more

    The title of the poem i.e. The Ball Poem is very symbolic and has deep meaning behind it. A young child who is not aware of harsh realities of life. He keeps enjoying by playing with his ball. He develops an emotional attachment with it.

    Hence, when he loses the ball, he gets sorrowful and sad. He will not feel good even if a new ball is given to him because money cannot buy emotions and attachment.

    In this Ball also symbolises the things which a person has and loses someday. It symbolises poet’s father who committed suicide when the poet was 11 years old.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Best Answer
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The Ball Poem is a very symbolic poem with many hidden meanings and ideas. If we simply read the poem, we find that it is about a child who has lost a ball and is quite sad because he was attached to it. The poet feels useless to buy him a new ball because money cannot buy emotions which the young bRead more

    The Ball Poem is a very symbolic poem with many hidden meanings and ideas. If we simply read the poem, we find that it is about a child who has lost a ball and is quite sad because he was attached to it. The poet feels useless to buy him a new ball because money cannot buy emotions which the young boy had with the ball.

    If we go deeper into the poem, we find that the poem is about accepting the harsh realities of life and move on. The poet suggests that every person in the world has his possessions which he loved. But someday we have to lose them. Hence we should be read to face that moment and move on. This is the maturity. A person who can move on can sustain on earth and live a better life.

    When we go more deep into the poem, we find that it is biographical in nature. The poet is actually talking about himself. The young boy nobody else but poet and the ball represents his father who committed suicide when the poet was 11 years old. The poet is depressed because money cannot bring back his dead father. However he tries to move on.

    But the poet also accepts the fact that the memories of his father always remain his mind. He often feels dilemma. He does not know whether he should cry for his father or move on.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The Ball Poem is written in Blank Verse. A Blank Verse is poem without a proper rhyme scheme.  The Ball Poem is written in a long single stanza having 25 lines. Read summary of this poem.

    The Ball Poem is written in Blank Verse. A Blank Verse is poem without a proper rhyme scheme.  The Ball Poem is written in a long single stanza having 25 lines.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The message of the poem The Ball Poem is that we get things in our life which become a part of our lives. We feel that they will always remain with us. Thus we form an attachment with them. However a day comes when the thing is no more with us. At such a situation, we feel depressed and hopeless. AcRead more

    The message of the poem The Ball Poem is that we get things in our life which become a part of our lives. We feel that they will always remain with us. Thus we form an attachment with them. However a day comes when the thing is no more with us.

    At such a situation, we feel depressed and hopeless. According to the poet, losing our possessions is a harsh reality of our life on earth. We cannot get away from it. Hence we have to face such a situation and then try to move on.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    In this phrase, the literary device used is called apostrophe. It is not the apostrophe (punctuation mark i.e. '). It is a figure of speech and a type of metaphor in which the poet addresses a person who is either absent from the scene or dead. In the poem, the poet is addressing the little boy whoRead more

    In this phrase, the literary device used is called apostrophe. It is not the apostrophe (punctuation mark i.e. ‘). It is a figure of speech and a type of metaphor in which the poet addresses a person who is either absent from the scene or dead. In the poem, the poet is addressing the little boy who is physically not present there.

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Best Answer
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    Following literary devices have been used in the poem The Ball Poem: Personification: Personification is a finger of speech which shows attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human. In the poem, the poet describes ball merrily bouncing down the street. Merry meansRead more

    Following literary devices have been used in the poem The Ball Poem:

    1. Personification: Personification is a finger of speech which shows attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human. In the poem, the poet describes ball merrily bouncing down the street. Merry means happy. It is a human characteristic which is given to the ball.
    2. Metaphor: It is a literary device in which a word or phrase is symbolically applied to a thing to which it is not literally applicable. In the poem, poet says, “balls will be lost always“. Balls here symbolise possessions which we lose. It also refers to the childhood which if lost never comes back.
    3. Apostrophe: It is a literary device in which a person is addressed who is either dead or physically not present. In the poem, the poet says, “balls will be lost aways, little boy“. The boy is physically not present with the poet.
    4. Repetition: It is a literary device in which a word or phrase is repeated two or more times. In the poem the poet repeats the word “what” two lines. “what, what is he to do?”.
    5. Alliteration: It is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. e.g. “who has lost his ball”, “what, what is he to do?”, “no one buys a ball back”, “the deep and dark floor of harbour”, “move my mind and my heart move with all that move me”.
    6. Enjambment: It is the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. e.g. “I saw it go merrily, down the street”
    7. Symbolism: It is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In the poem, ball and balls represent childhood, possessions and even the father of poet.

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