AMITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, MAYUR VIHAR

SUBJECT: ENGLISH
CLASS: XII HANDOUT
POEM - A ROADSIDE STAND

A Roadside Stand
by Robert Frost
● Poet has brought out the apathy of the rich, city dwellers towards the poor, roadside shed owners.
● Owners have made a new shed with the hope of selling their vegetables and fruits to the city
dwellers who pass by in their cars.
● Unfortunately, the rich and sophisticated people of the city are insensitive to the needs of the
shed owners, the latter’s desire is to sell their goods and earn an amount sufficient for their
survival.
● The powerful and influential people had promised them support but now the shed owners feel let
down and cheated.
● They have also heard that they would be moved to villages, closer to the market area and theatre.
● Here, they are told that they will not have to worry about their earnings and would sleep
peacefully at night.
● In reality, the so-called benefactors would benefit from this move and not the shed owners.
● They would simply lose their hold on their land and would be dislodged, giving them sleepless
nights once again.
● The poet is unable to bear the pitiable plight of the shed owners who wait for a car to stop.
● The cars do stop occasionally but the passengers have their own selfish motives to achieve.
● One of them stops to inquire the pieces of the vegetables, another stops to reverse the car and yet
another to merely ask where the road leads.
● The poet is alarmed when someone stops at a shed to ask for a gallon of gas. The poet is
agonized to see the miseries of the shed owners.

Explanation of Phrases from poem:

● TRUSTING SORROW: Country folk trust their rich brother in city thinking they
would come to their help but feel sad when their trust is breached by the city people
through their indifference. City people say nothing, but their ugly facial expressions
and even their silence speak about cold and indifferent attitude towards rural poor.
● Moving pictures: Luxurious, advanced lifestyle projected in T.V or movies
● PITIFUL KIN refer to poor village folk. They are akin to each other in their
poverty- stricken pathetic condition.
● THEATRE AND STORE signify superior lifestyle to these rustics.
● GREEDY GOOD DOERS: greedy people posing as benefactors to mankind.
● BENEFICENT BEAST OF PREY: City dwellers want to take away their source of
livelihood, but pretend to be helpful. Men in power are beasts of prey in garb of
benefactors. They exploit common people for their vested interests.
 Men in power enforce such benefits on country folk which in reality are meant for their own
benefit. Men in power approach country folk with false promises of providing better living
conditions. The rustics repose blind faith in these promises and feel comforted to an extent
that they fail to see their greedy intentions.
● CHILDISH LONGING: It is the childish and futile desire of the stand owners that
the vehicles would pause to buy the products being sold at the roadside stand.
● SELFISH CARS: Cars are referred to as selfish as the owners of the cars do not
understand their suffering and so they do not contribute in enhancing their financial
status.

Reference to context
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 road side 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
a. Where has the road side stand been set up?
The roadside stand has been set up in front of an old house at the edge of the road.
b. What is that supports ‘the flower of cities’?
It is flow of money that supports the ‘flower of cities’, i.e. all the best part of city life.
c. Describe the condition of the roadside stand.
It was in a miserable condition. The owner lacked resources to give it an artistic look.
d. What did the stand expect?
It expected money from passersby who would buy their wares, so that they could develop the
country stand.
e. Which words bring out the contrast between the rural and urban folk?
The city folk speed across while the stand ‘pathetically pled’, shows the huge gap.
f. Explain! “That too pathetically pled’, Give the figure of speech used.

Personification is the figure of speech. The owner desperately pleads to the rich city dwellers to shop at
the roadside stand and buy their wares so that some money could flow in their hands.

2. 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,
Questions
(a) What does ‘Polished traffic” mean?
(b) In what manner does the traffic pass that way?
(c) Explain–Out of sorts”
(d) Why are they feeling out of sorts?
 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.
(a) What attraction does the place offer?
(b) What should one do if one wants to be mean?
(c) What does the poet not complain about?
(d) What do you think is the real worry of the poet?

4. 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 to give us the life of the moving-pictures promise
That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.
a. Who made a road side stand and where?
b. Who wanted to feel the money in hand?
c. Who hoped to be helped and by whom?
d. What was the promise made and who made it?

5. “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 stone,
Where 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 to sleep all day,
Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way”.

a. Who is going to exploit the rural people and how?

The politicians and the Government exploit the poor by offering them benefits that are supposed to solve
their problems but in reality only add or pose problems of a different nature thereby making them feel
cheated.

b. How will the greedy good-doers soothe the rural poor out of their wits?

By offering them free benefits like housing and other facilities, they rob the poor of their voice to protest
and lull them into a feeling of false security

6.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 the day in almost open prayer, for the squeal of brakes.

(a) What can’t the poet tolerate?

(b) Who has been longing and for what?
(c) Why is the longing termed as childish?
(d) What do the expressions “open window” and “open prayer” mean?

SOLVED SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Q1 What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
desired the city dwellers to buy goods ,wanted flow of cash for better standard of living

Q2 Why are the cars called ‘selfish ?

Ans. The poet uses a transferred epithet here. He actually means to say that the owners of the cars just
pass by without a thought for the plight of the stall owners

Q3.Who is anguished at the plight of the stand –owners? Why?

The poet, Robert Frost is anguished at the plight of the stand owner because the cars do stop
occasionally but the passengers have their own selfish motives to achieve.

Q4. Why can't the poet bear the childish longing of the poor people?
The poet is a true humanitarian who is genuinely concerned for the poor people's misfortunes. He wants
a solution for their poverty. But seeing how childish their longings are, the poet feels it unbearable.

Q6What are the two significant roles of money in the lives of the poor people?
Money is the measuring rod of growth for the village people. They estimate their economic growth by
means of the small amount of money at hand. Similarly, money is necessary for a villager to feel
confident. He feels a ‘lift of spirit’ with money in reach.