Question

What does the world of possessions mean?

Answer 1

Hint: John Berryman writes a wonderful description of a youngster who has misplaced his ball in the ball poem. He taught a wise lesson via the loss of everyone, that everyone must learn to withstand the sorrow of loss.

Complete answer:
The phrase "in the world of possessions" refers to the abundance of materialistic items on the globe. The desire to acquire or possess things drives people, and in such a world, losing something valuable is unavoidable. The youngster realises the significance of loss in this materialistic society after losing the ball.

When the ball bounces out of his control and falls into the water, he loses control. The young man grew depressed. No other ball, the poet believes, will be able to alleviate his anguish. The lost ball represents the loss of a human person in general.

This makes the boy realise that it is a world of possessions, and one cannot replace the lost item by buying a new one.

Note: The poem ‘His First Flight’ is about losing something we care about and then growing up. The poet has made use of imagery tools of literature to describe how the ball personifies the spirit of the boy's childlike innocence. We can imagine how, like the ball, this small boy's spirit is sinking into the gloomy waters of the harbour. As it moves further away, the young guy will learn to grow up, and the portion of the ball that is related to it will grow up as well until it is no longer a small boy.