CBSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

Detailed explanation-1: -Answer: (a) The boy learns to grow up and understands his first responsibility. (b) ‘Balls’ signify the boys’ innocence and happy young days.

Detailed explanation-2: -Offering him money to buy another ball would also be futile because the boy can never truly recover what he has lost. The poet wants the boy to learn about responsibility and to know how to keep moving forward even in the face of suffering and loss.

Detailed explanation-3: -Answer: The poet says that he will not intrude upon the boy because he must learn to tolerate loss. The poet emphasises this loss. He thinks that money cannot compensate for the sense of loss. So he doesn’t give the boy money or buy another ball for him.

Detailed explanation-4: -The ball was valuable for the boy is obvious (clear) from the way he reacts after losing it He was shocked, remained fixed, trembled with grief staring at the place where the ball had fallen. All this shows that he loved the ball and it was valuable for him.