Class XII (Flamingo) Poem- 4-A Roadside Stand by Robert Frost

 

      A Roadside Stand

        by Robert Frost.

 About the Poet

Robert Frost (26 March 1874-29 January 1963) was an American poet. He was born in San Francisco and lived there until the age of eleven. In 1911, in an attempt to attract the attention of prominent and influential members of the literary world, he moved with his family to England. There he befriended Ezra Pound, who helped publish and promote his works.

Poet Name	Robert Frost
Born	26 March 1874, San Francisco, California, United States
Died	29 January 1963, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Poems	The Road Not Taken
Awards	Robert Frost Medal, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Robert Frost

Frost returned to the United States in 1915, and by the 1920s was an established poet and won numerous prizes. Interested in reading and writing poetry from a young age, Frost attended Harvard University in Boston but never earned a degree. He was awarded the Bollingen Poetry Prize in 1963 and four Pulitzer prizes. He was honored with an invitation to read a poem at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President. He mostly wrote about characters, people and landscapes. His poems are cocerned with human tragedies and fears, his reaction to the complexities of life and his ultimate acceptance of burdens. stopping by the woods on a snowing evening,Birches, Mending walls are few of his well known poems.

 Theme

The poem ‘A Roadside Stand’ is the poet’s plea for consideration for the simple people of the countryside whose lives have shown no progress. He expresses his pain at their sadness and sorrow and seeks support and relief for them. He hopes someone would work unselfishly for their rehabilitation and not exploit them. He brings out the wide disparity between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ with pitiless clarity and humanity and seems to suggest that the economic well-being of a country depends on a balanced development of villages and cities.

1. The poem through the owner of a roadside stand reflects upon the life of people that are deprived and mindlessly ignored by the city-bred people. The owner wants to be accepted by the city people even if they don’t buy anything from his stand.
2. Further, the poet also points out that growth and development are unequal in cities and villages which is why people in the villages tend to remain dissatisfied and unhappy as well.

A Roadside Stand- Summary 

‘A Roadside Stand’ portrays the poor country people whose earnest desire is to rise above their wretchedness. They attempt to do this by putting up roadside stands and trying to sell whatever they can to improve their lives. But the city people just speed by in their cars and do not even notice them, and when they do, it is with irritation at their having spoiled the natural landscape with their badly written signs.

Frost very aptly portrays the country people’s anger at the selfishness of the city dwellers for all they want is to attain the standard that they have seen promised to them in movies, but which they feel is being denied to them by the present government.

They do not want charity and the poet makes it very clear that the donors are actually ruining their lives by calling these so-called benevolent people greedy and beasts of prey. They move them to countryside to live near theatres and shops and encourage them to live idle lives, which will take away their peace and wits.

The poet feels pain on seeing the country people’s intense longing for a better life and their sadness at the non-fulfillment of their dreams when not even one car stops to inquire about the goods they are selling. The city dwellers are projected as being involved in the own lives with no thought for anyone else.

The poem shows the heartlessness of the city dwellers through the poet’s insane desire to put an end to the country people so that there would be relief from their complaints about the lack of upliftment of their lives. The poem ends with the poet’s remorse at these feelings when he realizes how he would feel if someone were to try to end his pain in the same way.

TEXT

The little old house was out with a little new shed

 In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped, 

A roadside stand that too pathetically pled, 

It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread, 

But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports 

The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.

 The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead,

 Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts 

At having the landscape marred with the artless paint

 Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong 

Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts, 

Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,

 Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene, 

You have the money, but if you want to be mean, 

Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along. 

The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint 

So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid: 

Here far from the city we make our roadside stand

 And ask for some city money to feel in hand 

To try if it will not make our being expand,

 And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise 

That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.

 It is in the news that all these pitiful kin 

Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in

 To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store, 

Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore, 

While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey, 

Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits

 That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits, 

And by teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day, 

Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way. 

Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear 

The thought of so much childish longing in vain, 

The sadness that lurks near the open window there,

 That waits all day in almost open prayer

 For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car, 

Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass, 

Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are.

 And one did stop, but only to plow up grass 

In using the yard to back and turn around; 

And another to ask the way to where it was bound; 

And another to ask could they sell it a gallon of gas 

They couldn’t (this crossly); they had none, didn’t it see? 

No, in country money, the country scale of gain, 

The requisite lift of spirit has never been found, 

Or so the voice of the country seems to complain, 

I can’t help owning the great relief it would be 

To put these people at one stroke out of their pain.

 And then next day as I come back into the sane, 

I wonder how I should like you to come to me 

And offer to put me gently out of my pain.

    

TEXT & EXPLANATION

 Stanza-1 

 The little old house was out with a little new shed

 In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped, 

A roadside stand that too pathetically pled, 

It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread, 

But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports 

The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.

 The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead,

WORD - MEANINGS

Sped: the rate at which someone or something moves 

Dole: a charitable gift of food, clothes, or money.

Plead: make an emotional appeal.

Withering: fade

Faint: lacking conviction or enthusiasm

EXP- In this stanza, the poet describes the new shed that had been set up by the occupants of old little house on the edge or side of the road that was busy with the traffic. The owner of the roadside stand awaits if someone would stop their car to buy something from his stand. He wasn’t begging in fact he was trying to earn some money by selling fruits and vegetables. These people or this family is deprived and need the money that has been circulating in the city with the help of which city people are flourishing. 

Stanza-2 

Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts 

At having the landscape marred with the artless paint

 Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong 

Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts, 

Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,

WORD - MEANINGS

Marred: spoiled

Quarts: vessel

EXP- In the following stanza the poet uses ‘polished traffic’ to describe the people who live in the city and even when they are passing through the countryside their minds are still occupied with their profession and city life. Further, he describes that even if for a moment they forget about their city life and have a good look at the landscape all they do is criticize and judge. They simply get mad about the presence of the shed or the old rustic signs despite looking at the berries and the golden squash that is put up for sale.

Stanza-3

Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene, 

You have the money, but if you want to be mean, 

Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along. 

The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint 

So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid: 

Here far from the city we make our roadside stand

 And ask for some city money to feel in hand 

To try if it will not make our being expand,

 And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise 

That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.

WORD - MEANINGS

Moving pictures: movies.

EXP-Further, the poet continues by speaking on behalf of the owner of the roadside stand that if they have the money with them (which they certainly do) why do they act so mean towards these people and hold it so dear to them. These people are hurt because they hoped that the city dwellers would buy their produce from the stand which would generate income for their family and they would be able to live happily, simply remains a ‘trusting sorrow’ as nobody bothers about their sales and instead, they want the stand to be removed as it spoils the beauty of the landscape. The owner of the stand thought that once the family had enough money they could live the life that was promised to them by the political parties.

Stanza-4

 It is in the news that all these pitiful kin 

Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in

 To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store, 

Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore, 

While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey, 

Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits

 That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits, 

And by teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day, 

Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way. 

WORD - MEANING

Beneficent: charitable or do-gooders.

EXP-In this stanza, the poet says that there is news that these people living in the villages or the countryside will be relocated and shifted to the city near the theatres and the store where they will be equally benefitted by the development and growth. The people who consider themselves as the do-gooders or the charitable ones simply manipulate them and accomplish their own selfish motives. The village people are misguided by the city people who teach them to sleep all day which they are not habitual of as the village people spend their day working hard.

Stanza-5

Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear 

The thought of so much childish longing in vain, 

The sadness that lurks near the open window there,

 That waits all day in almost open prayer

 For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car, 

Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass, 

Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are.

 And one did stop, but only to plow up grass 

In using the yard to back and turn around; 

And another to ask the way to where it was bound; 

WORD - MEANING

Longing: a yearning desire.

Lurks: be or remain hidden so as to wait in ambush for someone or something.

Squeal: long, high-pitched cry or noise.

Plow up: move in a fast and uncontrolled manner

EXP-In this stanza, the poet tells what he feels by looking at the pitiable condition of these people. They wait for a customer like a child near the open window wishing that the car stops by their stand and at least inquire about the prices! He says that a car that stopped indeed plowed up the grass in order to turn around and another car that stopped simply asked about the directions.

Stanza-6

And another to ask could they sell it a gallon of gas 

They couldn’t (this crossly); they had none, didn’t it see? 

No, in country money, the country scale of gain, 

The requisite lift of spirit has never been found, 

Or so the voice of the country seems to complain, 

I can’t help owning the great relief it would be 

To put these people at one stroke out of their pain.

 And then next day as I come back into the sane, 

I wonder how I should like you to come to me 

And offer to put me gently out of my pain.

WORD - MEANING

Requisite: a thing that is necessary for the achievement of a specified end.

Stroke: moving your hand slowly and gently over something or someone.

Explanation The poet wants to uplift the poor countryside people from their existing pain and therefore he empathizes with them because he knows that they are even just enough to meet their daily needs. He thinks that these people should be put out of the pain and hardships of existence. He then writes that he imagines how would he react when the next day anyone would go and gently wake him up and put him out of the pain that he feels for the people. But this might only be a temporary relief for him just like it would be for the farmers or these poor peasants.

LITERARY DEVICES USED  IN POEM

TRANSFERRED EPITHET:   A transferred epithet is when an adjective usually used to describe one thing is transferred to another. An epithet is a word or phrase which describes the main quality of someone or something. For example: a happy person. Epithets are usually adjectives like 'happy' that describe a noun like 'person'.

1. Polished traffic
2. Selfish cars

PERSONIFICATION: Personification is a poetic device where animals, plants or even inanimate objects, are given human qualities – resulting in a poem full of imagery and description.

1)A roadside stand that too pathetically pled

METAPHOR: - Implicit comparision 

1. Trusting Sorrow

OXYMORON & ALLITERATION:

Usually, the antithesis is the contrast or opposition to the thesis. A paradox is a self-contradiction, or we can call an oxymoron or a word/phrase that signifies two contradictory meanings. Therefore, a paradox is like a combination of a thesis and an antithesis.

Alliteration, in prosody, is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. Sometimes the repetition of initial vowel sounds (head rhyme) is also referred to as alliteration. As a poetic device, it is often discussed with assonance and consonance.

‘Greedy good-doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts’ of prey.

Questions and answers..

Think it out ..

Q1. The city folks who …. The lines are, “At having the landscape marred with the artless paint

Of signs with the N turned wrong and S turned wrong”

ANS- The city folks find the shack a shabby insertion in the beautiful landscape of hills and greenery. They are angry that the old signboard hangs showing the N-S direction wrong.

Q2. What was the plea of the folk … The farmer who erected a ramshackle sales counter wanted to make a little money by selling his berries and juice. The extra earnings could ameliorate his difficulties in making both ends meet.

Q3. The government and social …. The words/phrases are ‘greedy do-gooders’, ‘beasts of prey’, ‘swarm over their lives’, ‘soothe them out of their wits’, ‘teaching them how to sleep’ etc.

Q4. What is the ‘childish longing’ … The poet imagines that he could banish the woes of the simple poor farmers and other such deprived classes in one go, but this is only a dream. It can never come to fruition in real life. This is why it is a ‘vain’ desire.

Q5. Which lines tell us about … The lines are..

Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear

The thought of so much childish longing in vain,

The sadness that lurks near the open window there,

That waits all day in almost open prayer

For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,

Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass,

Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are.

——————————–———————————–

 Answer each of the following questions in about 30-40 words:

Question 1. Why do the people who run the roadside stand wait for the squeal of brakes so eagerly? 
Answer: The “squealing of brakes” means that a car has stopped at their roadside stand. It raises their hopes that the city folks have stopped there to buy something from their roadside stand and some city money will come into their hands.

Question 2. Explain: “soothe them out of them wits” with reference to the poem The Roadside Stand’. 
Answer: The powerful men approach the country folk with false promises of providing them with better living conditions and a better life. These innocent and simple rustics repose blind faith in their false claims and feel soothed and satisfied. They fail to see through their crookedness and selfishness.

Question 3. Why does Robert Frost sympathise with the rural poor? 
Answer: Robert Frost feels an unbearable agony at the plight of the rural poor who are ignored and neglected by the rich politicians. The Government and the party in power are indifferent to their welfare. They fool them by making false promises and then fully exploit them to suit their own selfish interests.

Question 4. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand? 
Answer: The folk who had put up the roadside stand pleaded to the city dwellers to stop and buy their wares so as to enable them to earn some extra money for a decent living. They wanted that the rich people who passed from there in their cars should stop there and buy some goods from them. The money that these folks would earn from the rich people would help them to lead a better life.

Question 5. What is the ‘childish longing’ of the folk who had put up the roadside stand? Why is it ‘in vain’? 
Answer: The ‘childish longing’, the poet refers to, is the dreams and desires of the rural folk who have a child-like longing for a better life that they hope to live with the help from the city dwellers. Their longing is in vain because the city folk are not willing to help them and so their ‘childish longings’ are not likely to be fulfilled.

Question 6. Why didn’t the ‘polished traffic’ stop at the roadside stand? 
Answer: The ‘polished traffic’ conveniently overlook the roadside stand and do not stop there as their mind is focussed only on their destination. Moreover, they were critical of the poor decor of the stand, its artless interior and paint.

Question 7. What news in the poem ‘A Roadside Stand’ is making its round in the village? 
Answer: The news making its round is about the resettlement of the poor, rural people who will be resettled in the villages, next to the theatre and the store. They would be close to the cities and will not have to worry about themselves any more.

Question 8. Why do people at the roadside stand ask for city money? 
Answer: The rural people running the roadside stand are poor and deprived, unlike the people of the city. They thus ask for city money so that they too can lead a life of happiness and prosperity. This much-needed city money can give them the life that had been promised to them by the party in power.

Question 9. What does Frost himself feel about the roadside stand? 
Answer: The poet is distressed to see the interminable wait on the part of the shed owners for their prospective buyers. He is agonised at the ‘childish longing in vain’ of the people who have put up the roadside stand.

2. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

Question 10.
The little old house was out with a little new shed
In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped,
A roadside stand that too pathetically pled,
It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread,
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow
supports
The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.

1. Where was the new shed put up? What was its purpose?
2. Why does the poet use the word ‘pathetic’?
3. Explain: ‘too pathetically pled’
4. Who are referred to as ‘the flower of cities’? 

Answer:
1. A little house at one side of the road was extended and a shed was added to it to put up a road stand. It was set up to attract passersby to buy things from them so that they could earn some money.
2. By using the word ‘pathetic’ the poet emphasizes on the fact that the condition of the shed was most humble and that it presented a rather pitiable sight.
3. It was as if by putting up the shed the owner was desperately pleading to the rich city folks to stop by at his roadside stand and buy things from there so that they could earn some extra money.
4. ‘The flower of the cities’ here refers to the rich and wealthy city-dwellers who can afford the best things.

Question 11.
The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead,
Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts
At having the landscape marred with the artless paint
Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned
wrong
Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts,

1. What does the poet mean by ‘with a mind ahead?
2. What are N and S signs?
3. Why have these sings turned wrong? 

Answer:
1. The phrase ‘with a mind ahead’ suggests that the people who pass the roadside stand in their polished cars conveniently overlook the roadside stand as their mind is focussed only on their destination.
2. The N and S signs stand for the North and the South direction.
3. These signs have turned wrong because they have been painted in the wrong way and so these signboards are wrongly presented.

Question 12.
Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene,
You have the money, but if you want to be mean,
Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along.
The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint
So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid

1. What attraction does the place offer?
2. What should one do if one wants to be mean?
3. What does the poet not complain about?
4. What do you think is the real worry of the poet? 

Answer:
1. The place offers a scenic view of the beautiful mountains.
2. If one wants to be mean he can keep his money and move on ahead.
3. The poet does not complain about the landscape which has been spoilt because of the artless painting done on the building.
4. The poet’s real worry is the unexpressed sorrow of the people who have put up the roadside stand.

Question 13.
It is in the news that all these pitiful kin
Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in
To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store,
Where they won’t have to think for themselves
anymore,
While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey,

1. Name the poem and the poet.
2. Explain why merciful have been called ‘greedy good-doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’?
3. Why won’t these poor people have to think for themselves any more?

Answer:
1. The poem is ‘A Roadside Stand’ by Robert Frost.
2. The merciful are the crooked politicians, greedy people pretending to be good, who only pose as beneficiaries. These powerful men are actually beasts of prey in the guise of beneficiaries who ruthlessly exploit the common people.
3. These poor people are now in the hands of the so-called ‘merciful beneficiaries’, who will actually do them more harm than any good, so they will not have to think about themselves any more.

Question 14.
Sometimes 1 feel myself I can hardly bear
The thought of so much childish longing in vain,
The sadness that lurks near the open window there,
That waits all day in almost open prayer
For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,
Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass.

1. What cannot be borne by the poet and why?
2. What is the ‘childish longing7?
3. Why the longing has been termed as ‘vain’?
4. Why do the people driving in the cars stop sometimes? 

Answer:
1. The poet cannot bear the thought of how these country folks are lured with false promises which are never going to be fulfilled because he feels genuinely sad about so much deprivation to these innocent people.
2. Like children, these country folk have many unfulfilled wishes and desires. So they keep their windows open expecting some prospective customers to turn up so that some good fortune can fall into their share.
3. The longing has been termed as ‘vain’ because it will never be fulfilled.
4. The people driving in the car stop sometimes either to just enquire about the way to their destination or to ask for a gallon of gas if they ran short of it.

Question 15.
Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear
The thought of so much childish longing in vain,
The sadness that lurks near the open window there,

1. Why is the longing called childish?
2. Where is the window?
3. Why does sadness lurk there? 

Answer:
1. Like children, these rural folk nurture many unfulfilled dreams and desires which might never be satisfied. They crave in vain like children waiting for their wishes to be fulfilled.
2. The window is a part of their roadside stand where they wait expectantly.
3. Sadness lurks there because no car halts there to buy anything from their roadside stand and the rural folk are unable to earn some extra money.

Question 16.
The sadness that lurks near the open window there, That waits all day in almost open prayer For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car, Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass,
Just one to inquire a farmer’s prices are.

1. Which open window is referred to? Why does sadness lurk there?
2. What does the farmer pray for?
3. Is the farmer’s prayer ever granted? How do you know? 

Answer:
1. The open window is that of the roadside stand where they wait expectantly for a car to stop by. Sadness lurks there because no city dweller halts there and thus the hopes of the country folk are belied as no customer stops there.
2. The farmer prays that the city folks apply the brakes of the car and halt at their roadside stand to buy something from there.
3. The farmers’ prayers are not granted. The poet tells us that even if city folk do stop at the roadside stand it is only to enquire about the prices of the goods.