English Language & Literature — CBSE Class 10 board question

(i) (B) sympathetic, understanding the depth of the boy's loss.

(ii) The phrase "all his young days into the harbour" is a metaphor. The boy's entire childhood — his memories and experiences — is compared to something that has sunk into the harbour along with the ball, suggesting a deep, irreversible loss.

(iii) The phrase means the boy is not just staring at the water; he is mentally gazing back at all the happy moments of his childhood that the ball represented. Its loss feels like losing a part of his past forever.

(iv) The boy is initially overcome by "ultimate shaking grief" — he stands rigid and trembling at the loss of his ball. Gradually, through this pain, he begins to understand that loss is inevitable in life. He realises money cannot replace what is truly precious, and this marks his first lesson in responsibility and accepting loss — he is learning.

Source: The Ball Poem, John Berryman

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• (i) The speaker explicitly says "I would not intrude" and calls a replacement ball "worthless," showing empathy, not indifference or mockery.
• (ii) For metaphor questions, name the metaphor, identify the two things compared, and state the effect. Don't just define metaphor.
• (iii) Focus on the emotional/symbolic meaning — the harbour represents irreversible loss of childhood.
• (iv) This is a 2-mark question requiring ~40 words. Show the journey: grief → realisation → learning. Examiners look for both endpoints and the transition between them.