Question

3. Now

He senses first responsibility

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...........

A. What do ‘balls’ in the above lines refer to?

B. Who is ‘He’ and what is he learning?

C. Explain the following phrases:

i. senses first responsibility

ii. a world of possessions

iii. The epistemology of loss​

Answer 1

A. "balls" refer to childhood innocence.

B. "He" is a little boy and is learning that losses are part of life.

C. i - means that the understanding that everyone has a responsibility to take care of what is important. ii- It means that every human being likes to have material things that bring him some kind of happiness. iii- It means the nature and the meaning of losing.

Step-by-step explanation:

The above poem refers to how innocent and happy children and young people are, before they understand the meaning of possession and loss. The poet shows how young people need to deal with this and learn early on the value of things, the importance of them, the attachment we have to them, the responsibility for care and the inevitability of loss and all the feelings that accompany it.