CBSE Class 12 English A RoadSide Stand Assignment

About the poet

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime. He had received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

“A Road Not Taken”, “Mending Wall”, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Birches” are some of his most famous poems.

Theme

The poem ‘A Roadside Stand’ revolves around the lives of low-income individuals. Besides, the writer differentiates the battling lives of the field individuals with the inhumane existence of the city tenants. The city inhabitants don’t try to contemplate on the brutal state of the roadside. The city occupants don’t consider the battles of the roadside stand individuals need to experience to sell their treats. These needy individuals have nothing to do except believing that the passing vehicles will stop and buy their items. If at all, a vehicle stops by, it is to think about bearings or to gripe about something. The artist profoundly identifies with these devastated individuals and feels empathy for them. This compassion is evident in the depiction of the roadside stand in a powerful way.

Form

In the poem, Robert Frost has used the personal pronoun in the first person which refers to the country people in the first stanza and to the poet in the third and fifth stanza. Robert Frost in his typical style takes opposite sides in the same poem to create a dramatic effect. This also gives a sense of involvement to the reader.

Message

The poem describes a stand that a farmer has put up outside his house along a highway hoping that the passing cars would buy his goodies. Unfortunately, no passers-by stop their cars and buy his goodies. Moreover, even if someone stares at the direction of the stand he only criticizes the badly painted North-South signs. Even the benefactors make the villagers completely dependent on them thus robbing them of their ability to think for themselves to be independent. The poet is outraged at the callous attitude of the government, the civic authorities and the social service agencies that appear to help them but actually end up harming them.

Summary

The poet says that a farmer in the countryside had erected a sundown shed, at the edge of the highway, to sell wares, to the traffic, speeding past. The farmer was not begging, but seeking some financial help from his city brethren. The city folk helped in the maintenance of the city parks and gardens and the farmer felt that, they could help the country people also, by at least buying their products. However, the fast moving traffic just sped past, intent on reaching their destination without even giving a cursory glance to the shed. If anyone halted it was only to comment on how the beauty of the mountains, a place for rest and calm had been marred by the wrongly directing sign boards, wild berries in their wooden containers and the silver marked vegetables, on sale.

Disappointed and dejected the farmer tells the rich city dwellers that they can keep their money, and not criticize the efforts of the country people who had trusted their city brethren to help them, but who had instead breached their faith by their indifference. The farmer further says that they wish for some monetary assistance only to experience the plush life revealed in movies, and which the politicians had deprived them of.

The poet also says that it had been in the news that these poor countryside people were to be relocated to villages where they could have an easy access to the film theatre and provision store, which would make their lives comfortable. The poor country people would be taken care of as all these greedy politicians and similar parasites would feast on their poverty and provide so many benefits. These would instead

numb their (countryside people) thoughts and they wouldn’t be able to think straight. By making these poor countryside people so comfortable, these greedy lot would manage to disturb their sleep pattern and their ability to think rationally.

Frost then speaks about his personal feelings that he could not bear to see this childlike longing among the country people who waited sadly behind open windows, praying for someone to stop by and for once enquire about the farmers’ wares. However, most of the cars pass by and even if one did stop it was to reverse and throw up the grass, another would stop to ask the direction, while another would halt to enquire about the availability of petrol, showing their complete lack of insensitivity. They did not realise that the shed sold only wares and not petrol.

Ticking off the country people, the poet says that the countryside, which can gain only through farming, the desired spirit for improvement is missing. This is seen by the rundown and neglected condition of the countryside.

Finally the poet says that it would be such a relief to help these country people and remove their pain and grief. However, when he thinks rationally, he wonders how he would feel, if some one did come to him, and offered him his service, i.e., to remove his pain.

Justification of the Title

The title is apt as the poem is about a roadside stand put up by the poor country folk. The poem portrays the plight of the people who have painted a new shed to sell the produce. The city is the source of financial stability, and the country is largely dependent on the city folk to survive and they do so by putting up the roadside stand. Poetic Devices

1. Symbols
• cars and traffic symbolise human beings
• It also symbolises human beings (in stanza one it stands for country people. In stanza three and five, it stands for the poet)

2. Transferred Epithet
• polished traffic
• selfish cars

3. Personification
• A roadside stand that too pathetically pled

4. Metaphor
• trusting sorrow

5. Oxymoron
• greedy good-doers and beneficent beasts of prey.

6. Alliteration
• gallon of gas
• greedy good-doers
• beneficent beasts

POEM IN A NUTSHELL

Reason country folk put up the stand
The rural folks’ earnest desire was to rise above their wretchedness by putting up a roadside stand selling farm produce-Wild berries in wooden quarts and crook necked golden squash with silver warts.

Government’s attitude towards the rural areas
They have been provided with a theater and a store, which is merely an illusion. It is ironical, that though it was meant to benefit them. It was a distraction, which removed them briefly from the reality.

Reaction of the passers by
One stop but only to back and turn around and another to ask directions, while a third stop to ask for gas.

Poet’s plea for help
Finally, the poet pleads for the cause of these people.
No amount of prosperity, can uplift the people, while the rural masses live a subnormal existence.

Multiple Choice Questions

Question. The items that are on the roadside stand are
(a) wild berries
(b) mangoes
(c) cherries
(d) papayas

Answer: A

Question. ‘Hurt to the scenery’ is a reference to
(a) the spoilt roadside
(b) spoilt painting
(c) spoilt landscape
(d) ruins of the house

Answer: C

Question. The little old house had a new shed and was situated
(a) near the flyover
(b) near the railway station
(c) at the edge of the road
(d) in the main city

Answer: C

Question. ‘Selfish cars’. The poetic device used is
(a) alliteration
(b) metaphor
(c) simile
(d) transferred epithet

Answer: D

Question. The golden squash for sale has
(a) silver warts
(b) golden warts
(c) copper warts
(d) aluminium warts

Answer: A

Question. What is in the news which the poet mentions?
(a) Deprived relatives should be taught a lesson
(b) Underprivileged people should be gathered to live in villages next to the theatre and store
(c) People will be forced to see movies
(d) People will be given a lot of loans

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. voice of the country seems to complain’ means the
(a) voice of the rural people
(b) voice of the politicians
(c) voice of the urban elite
(d) voice of the farmers only

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Squeal of brakes’. The brakes belong to
(a) a cycle
(b) a speeding car
(c) a motorbike
(d) a racing car on the tracks

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. The flow of cash supports the
(a) city life
(b) rural life
(c) children of slums
(d) rich people

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. What is marred with ‘artless paint’?
(a) The house
(b) The shed
(c) The landscape
(d) The car

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. Signs of the roadside show the direction of
(a) North and South
(b) West and East
(c) South-West
(d) South-East

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The roadside stand has been built
(a) far from the city
(b) close to the road
(c) close to the village
(d) along the river bank

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. Destroy their sleeping. Whose sleep is being talked about here?
(a) The urban folk
(b) The rural folk
(c) The small babies
(d) Old woman

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Benefits that are calculated to soothe them out of their wits’. This is a reference to
(a) awards and rewards
(b) the good acts are meant only for showing off
(c) life insurance plans
(d) life long provident plans

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. The poetic device used in ‘trusting sorrow’ is
(a) personification
(b) metaphor
(c) simile
(d) alliteration

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The party in power refers to the
(a) ruling government
(b) opposition
(c) Tories
(d) Ministers of Parliament

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The poet shows the following emotion for the farmers
(a) empathy
(b) hatred
(c) understanding
(d) disgust

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. Who are the greedy good doers according to the poet?
(a) People who are helpful
(b) People who seek only their selfish interests even when they help others
(c) People who do good deeds
(d) People who are conceited and arrogant

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. ‘And by teaching them how to sleep’. Who is teaching and who is being taught?
(a) The capitalists and politicians teach the county folk
(b) The teacher teaches rural children
(c) The professor teaches college students
(d) The parents teach their young children

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Childish longing’. What is the longing for?
(a) Craving for something good to happen
(b) Longing to sell wares
(c) Longing to go to the city
(d) Longing to be successful

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. Who are the ‘pitiful kin’?
(a) Country cousins who are suffering
(b) Relatives full of pity
(c) Politicians who sympathize with country people
(d) Relatives who are poor

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘You have the money’. Who has the money?
(a) City people
(b) Rural people
(c) Politicians
(d) Teachers

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Pathetically pled’ means
(a) pleading profusely
(b) miserably bleeding
(c) safe and sound
(d) unsafe from traffic

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. Who are the beneficient beasts of prey?
(a) Lions
(b) People who prey on the helplessness of simple and innocent people
(c) Tigers
(d) Wolves

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Sometimes I feel myself’. Who is ‘I’ in this line?
(a) The rural farmer
(b) The city industrialist
(c) The poet
(d) The politician

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. Who waits all day in open prayer?
(a) The shopkeeper
(b) The farmer at the roadside stand
(c) The politicians
(d) The city folk

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. The poet talks about a lot of cars. How many cars does he mention, metaphorically?
(a) Hundred
(b) Thousand
(c) Two hundred
(d) Two thousand

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. The only car that had stopped only to
(a) ask for directions
(b) turn back and turn around
(c) mend the tyre
(d) fill fuel in the tank

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘The requisite lift of spirit has never been found.’ This line means
(a) the rural folks have never got any encouragement.
(b) the slums were never developed.
(c) the urban people continue to ill treat the lower strata of society.
(d) the free spirited people do not exist.

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The second car stopped in order to
(a) ask for directions
(b) rest for a while
(c) unload the luggage
(d) check the battery water

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The sadness that lurks near the open window means
(a) unhappiness when no customer turns up
(b) misfortune about to come
(c) the thief hiding behind the open window
(d) the bad weather can be seen outside the window

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘As I come back into the sane’. By this the poet means
(a) when he comes back from the mental asylum
(b) when he views the situation calmly
(c) when he realizes that he is mad
(d) when he is able to understand mentally retarded people

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. The third car’s intention was to ask if the roadside stand had
(a) a bottle of coke to sell
(b) a gallon of gas
(c) some fruit juice
(d) some food to serve to passengers

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. In the poem, Robert Frost depicts the miserable condition of the
(a) urban people
(b) rural people
(c) slum areas
(d) posh areas

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. ‘They had none’. What does ‘none’ refer to?
(a) A bottle of wine
(b) A bottle of juice
(c) A gallon of gas
(d) A pint of water

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. Who wants to put the under privileged people out of their pain?
(a) The political leaders
(b) The poet
(c) The mayor of the city
(d) The President of the country

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. Why are the cars selfish?
(a) It is only a reference to selfish car owners.
(b) Cars which do not run fast.
(c) Cars which are not luxury cars.
(d) Cars that meet with accidents.

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The poet wants to be put out of his pain
(a) angrily
(b) pitifully
(c) gently
(d) smilingly

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. Why does the farmer expect the car to stop?
(a) To ask the prices of the goods in the roadside stand.
(b) To have a glass of water.
(c) To ask for directions.
(d) To repair the brakes.

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘In country money’ means
(a) money spent for rural upliftment.
(b) money found in village banks.
(c) money belonging to country folks.
(d) money earned by only rural people.

Answer: A

Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow:

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.

Questions

(i) Where was the stand located?
(a) at the edge of the road
(b) at the house
(c) in the city
(d) in the fair

Answer: A

(ii) How had the roadside stand been made?
Answer: It was just an extension of an old house and the new shed was made in front of it.

(iii) Explain ‘too pathetically pled’.
Answer: The shed begged the passers-by in the most pathetic manner.

(iv) What would not be fair to say?
Answer: It would be unfair to say that the shed was set up for just a dole of bread.

(v) What was the real aim of running this roadside show?
Answer: The real aim was to earn some money from the city people who passed from there.

(vi) The flower of cities’ is a
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) personification
(d) alliteration

Answer: B

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 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.

Questions

(i) What do you understand by ‘polished traffic’?
Answer: The polished traffic refers to the affluent class of city people who passed by the roadside stand on the highway.

(ii) What is meant by ‘out of sorts’?
Answer: ‘Out of sorts’ means to feel unhappy or annoyed (or irritated).

(iii) Why do the people in the cars feel ‘out of sorts’?

Answer: The people in the cars feel out of sorts because they do not appreciate the badly painted shed and even the crooked road signs irritate them

(iv) What is up for sale in the roadside stand?
(a) gallons
(b) gas
(c) wild berries
(d) quarts

Answer: C

(v) Why do the occupants of the old house and the owners of the shed feel a sense of outrage?
Answer: The occupants of the old house and the shed feel annoyed with the passers by because they (passers by) are only critical but when it comes to spending money, they do not do so and go on their way without buying anything.

(vi) Who has the money?
(a) the roadside stand
(b) the village people
(c) the city people
(d) no one

Answer: B

3. 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.

Questions

(i) What does the news proclaim?

Answer: The news proclaims that all the poor relatives of the city people (i.e. the rural people) will be assembled in the villages, close to the theatre and the store. They will be looked after by the government authorities.

(ii) What are the pitfalls of this course of action in the poet’s opinion?
Answer: The poet feels that the so called generous and beneficent politicians will only end up exploiting the poor and innocent rural people.

(iii) Explain ‘pitiful kin’.
(a) poor relatives
(b) politicians
(c) kids
(d) sick people

Answer: A

(iv) Why will they not have to think any more?
Answer: The poet says that the rural folks might be given some facilities and privileges so that they may not think about their pathetic lives anymore. 

(v) What will be next to the villages
(a) shed
(b) Old house
(c) store
(d) kin

Answer: C

(vi) Where are they gathered?
(a) in a roadside stand
(b) in the village
(c) in the city
(d) in the theatre

Answer: B

4. 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.

Questions

(i) Who does the poet accuse of having double standards and why?
Answer: The so-called politicians and the welfare organizations who claim that they are helping the poor people are being accused by the poet for their double standards.

(ii) Name the poetic device used in ‘greedy good doers, beneficient beasts of prey.’
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) alliteration
(d) alliteration and oxymoron

Answer: D

(iii) What is implied by ‘teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day’?
Answer: The city people are able to relax and be restful after teaching the rural folks how to be complacent about their situation. It implies that as long as the rural people do not understand that they have been exploited, they can be peaceful.

(iv) What is the ancient way of sleeping?
Answer: ‘Peacefully sleeping’ is implied here by the poet.

(v) The figure of speech in ‘ Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits is
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) alliteration
(d) personification

Answer: B

(vi) Who enforces benefits?
(a) school
(b) teacher
(c) politicians
(d) village people

Answer: C

5. 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,

Questions

(i) Who does another refer to?
(a) stand
(b) shed
(c) car
(d) road

Answer: C

(ii) What is the relevance of the pronoun ‘ it’ ?
Answer: The pronoun ‘it’ stands for the car that stopped. It represents the city people in the cars who are so absorbed in their own lives. They stop at the roadside stand enquiring if it sold petrol.

(iii) Who does ‘ they’ refer to?
(a) people in the car
(b) people on the roadside stand
(c) politicians
(d) people at the store

Answer: B

(iv) Why are they ‘cross’?
Answer: The country people who have put up the roadside stand are angry with the city people who stop not to enquire about their wares but for frivolous reasons like asking if they had petrol.

(v) ‘gallon of gas’ is a
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) pun
(d) alliteration

Answer: D

(vi) What does the country ‘seem to complain’ ?
Answer: The complaint is that the prosperity of the city is not seen in the country.

Short Answer Type Question

Question​​​​​​​. ‘The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint’, says Robert Frost. What was his real complaint?
Answer: The real complaint of the poet Robert Frost was the sorrows and sufferings of the rural folks. The distastefully done paint on the shed, the wrongly turned signs did not bother him. He was more worried about the pitiable  condition of the poor people and that moved his heart.

Question​​​​​​​. Which lines bring out the complaining attitude of the city folk? What did they complain about?
Answer: (a) ……then out of sorts At having a marred landscape with the artless paint.
(b) Of signs that with N and S turned wrong.
Their complaint is that the casual and distasteful way of painting and the pointers painted in the wrong directions irritate them.

Question​​​​​​​. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?
Answer: The lines that express the feelings of the poet are
“I can’t help owning the great relief it would be
To put these people at one stroke out of their pain”.
The poet feels the need to remove all the pain from which the poor rural people suffer.

Question​​​​​​​. Why do the people who are running the roadside stand ‘ask for some city money to feel in hand’?
Answer: The people at the roadside stand are poor and underprivileged. They do not have enough cash. They only wish that the city people  should patronize them and buy some goods from them so that they too can earn cash. They hope to bring about changes in their lifestyle and make their life prosperous.

Question​​​​​​​. What will be a great relief to the poet? How can the problems of the rural poor be solved?
Answer: The poet, Robert Frost seems to be worried at the plight of the poor people. It will be a great relief to him if the people are relieved of their pain and suffering at one stroke. Their miserable living is no better than death. The poet wants an immediate end to theirsuffering.

Question​​​​​​​. What was the plea of the folks who had put up the roadside stand?
Answer: The rural folks pleaded pathetically for some customers to stop by and buy some of their goods. City folks used to pass by on this road and hence the rural folk set up the roadside stand to attract their attention and sell their goods.

Question​​​​​​​. Describe the value of ‘money’ and ‘cash’ for ‘the flower of cities’.
Answer: The flow of money and cash supports the development in the big city. It supports the economy and helps in the progress and also preventing things from getting destroyed. It was hoped that the roadside stand would get some of the money or the cash to be utilized for progress of the rural folks.

Question​​​​​​​. What is the news being spread around?
Answer: It is in the news that the pitiful kin are to be bought out and gathered in mercifully. They would be settled in villages next to the theatre and the store. Their places will be taken over by the rich and the cunning people. The villagers ‘won’t have to think for themselves anymore’. The greedy and cruel exploiters will dominate them.

Question​​​​​​​. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘vain’? 
Answer: The ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to is the strong desire of the rural folks to be recognized and they wait for the customers to stop by at their stand to buy goods. When they get no perspective customers, they become sad and all their efforts remain futile.

Question​​​​​​​. Why didn’t the ‘city folk’ traffic stop at the roadside stand? What annoyed the people who wanted to stop?
Answer: The polished city folk did not stop at the roadside stand because they were in a rush to reach their destinations. If at all they did want to stop, they would get annoyed at the clumsy paint of the building. They also felt irritated at the signs ‘N’ and ‘S’ turned wrong.

Question​​​​​​​. Who will soothe the rural poor ‘out of their wits’ and how?
Answer: The greedy people will be the good-doers. 
They will dominate the lives of the poor rural folk. They will cunningly try to exploit them.
These people are more cruel than the beasts of prey. They only want to earn huge profits for themselves by exploiting the poor and innocent people. They will sleep comfortably in their beds all day but ‘prevent the poor’ from sleeping peacefully.

Question​​​​​​​. Where and how was the roadside stand built and why?
Answer: The roadside stand was built by the rural folk on one side of the road. It was a little new shed, an extension of an old house. On the busy road, the fast moving traffic would pass in front of it. The stand had been set up to attract the city folk as customers. The idea was to bring in some cash after selling the farm produce.

Long Answer Type Question

Question​​​​​​​. The poet Robert Frost has all the sympathy for the rural people. Explain.
Answer: In this poem, Robert Frost speaks on behalf of the rural farming community and how the urban folks deprive them of their rights and privileges. The poem focuses on the harsh reality of the American Capital Economy. The farmers and village folk are sad and depressed at the unequal distribution of funds and facilities among the rural and the urban people.
The thoughtless city people who don’t even bother to notice the roadside stand that these people have put up to sell berries and golden squash. They are almost pleading with the people who drive by to make a purchase. The poem begins with the “little new shed” and traffic speeding by. The folks at the stand are hopeful that some of the cash, whose flow supports the cities from sinking and withering faint. They pray that some of the money will be spent on the goods at the stand.
The use of personal pronoun in the first person refers to the country people in the first stanza and to the poet. In the third and fifth stanza, it is the representation of the city people. Robert Frost in his typical style takes opposite sides in the same poem to create a dramatic effect