Read the sentences given below and identify the figure of speech. 1mark
(Write with explanation)
1. He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes.
Answers
Answer:
His ball went. I would not intrude on him;
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility
The poet says that there is no benefit of consoling the boy by saying that he will get another ball
because he has other balls too. He says so because the boy is feeling very sad. He is completely
surrounded by sorrow. He is sad because all the memories of the childhood days went down the
harbour with the ball. Here the poet says that the boy is very sad as the ball which has now gone
into the water reminds him of those sweet memories, of the times when he owned it. This loss is
unbearable for him and he is grief stricken. The poet says that he can’t even tell the boy to take
some money from him in order to buy another ball. He says so because the new ball will not
bring the sense of belonging to the boy. Further, the poet says that the time has come for the boy
to learn the responsibility of taking care of his things.
Literary devices:
Repetition: use of word ‘ball’
Asyndeton: no use of conjunction in a sentence (A dime, another ball, is worthless)
In a world of possessions. People will take
Balls, balls will be lost always, little boy.
And no one buys a ball back. 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.
Here the poet says that the boy has to learn that in this materialistic world, many of his belongings
will be lost. He personifies the ball as his belongings, be it the worldly things or the relationships
he is in possession of. So, he says that he has to learn to live without them no matter what. He says
no one can buy back such things for him. The poet said so because according to him money can’t
buy you everything. If it does buy you some materialistic thing, still, it will not be able to buy the
sense of belongingness. He says that the boy is learning how to stand up against the sense of lost
things. This means that the boy is trying to learn the real truth of life which states that you have to
accept the miseries of life and stand up again. This is the truth which everyone has to learn in his
or her life. The harsh truth of standing up against the odd miseries of life that everyone has to bear.
Literary devices:
Alliteration: use of sound ‘b’ at the start of two consecutive words (buys a ball back)
Assonance: use of vowel sound ‘e’ (He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes)
Repetition: ‘ball’ word is repeated
Rhyme scheme: There is no rhyme scheme followed in the poem.