CBSE Class 12 English A Roadside Stand Worksheet Set B

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963), born in San Francisco, California, lived a life of contrasts. His father, William Prescott Frost Jr., died of tuberculosis when he was just 11, leaving a paltry eight dollars with the family. His mother died in 1900 of cancer. For most of his life, Frost battled with mental depression. Perhaps, this problem ran in the family. Frost had to take care of his younger sister who, too, battled depression. It is saddening to note that his wife, Elinor Miriam White also suffered bouts of depression. Despite such a scourge that blighted Frost, he rose to be the literary and cultural icon of America, winning prizes and accolades in plenty. He own the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Literature four times, and was made Poet Laureate of Vermont. He also won the American Academy of Art and Letters Gold Medal.

SUMMARY

Roadside Stand summary deals with the lives of poor deprived people. Furthermore, the poet contrasts the struggling lives of the countryside people with the insensitive life of the city dwellers. The city dwellers don’t even bother to ponder on the harsh condition of the roadside stand people. The city dwellers don’t think about the struggles these roadside people have to go through in order to sell their goodies. These poor people have nothing to do except wait for the passing cars to stop and purchase their products. If at all a car stops by, it is to know about directions or to make complain about something. The poet deeply sympathises with these impoverished people and feels compassion for them. This sympathy is evident in the portrayal of the roadside sheds in a poignant manner.

There has been an extension of the shed in front by the occupants of the little old house. Furthermore, this extension is around the edge of the road where the passage of traffic takes place. It seems like the shack-owners want to implore the passers-by to purchase something from the shack. These deprived people have a huge desire for the currency.
Unfortunately, the traffic goes past ignoring the shack. If by chance the traffic does stop, it would come with a feeling of disappointment. They are very disturbed to see the poor unattractive signboards. There is an offer of wild berries shack for sale in a wooden quart (a quarter of a gallon). This place offers a peaceful natural stay for those who can afford it. The poet becomes angry at this attitude of the ‘polished traffic’ and asks them to move ahead.
The poet shows more concern for the sadness of the shed-owners than he does for the landscape blemish. He believes that these people have a longing to handle some city money. This money can reduce their suffering as one can see in movies. The political party that enjoys power is the one that deprives them of a happy life.

The poet makes mention of the news which points out the relocation of the poor villagers to the vicinity of shops and theatres. There were big promises to ensure good care for them. However, the government authorities became negligent of these promises. Furthermore, the poet is angry at this behavior and calls them “greedy good-doers”. He calls them “beasts of prey” who indulge in the exploitation of the poor villagers.

WORDS/PHRASES AND THEIR CONTEXTUAL MEANINGS
A dole of bread: money or food given in charity at regular intervals
Marred: spoiled
Greedy good doers: the people who help others for their own benefit
Selfish cars: people who travel by cars and do not purchase anything from farmers
The voice of the country: people as a whole
Come back into the sane: become aware

POETIC DEVICES
Transferred epithet –1)polished traffic (the traffic is not polished, people are polished)
2)Selfish cars
Metaphor/ figurative speech-1) the flower of cities from sinking and withering faint;
2) Swarm over their lives
3) Teaching them to sleep they sleep all day
Oxymoron and Alliteration - Greedy good doers; beneficent beasts of prey Personification:
Alliteration: A roadside stand that too pathetically pled(also alliteration)

Question. The city folk who drove through the countryside hardly paid any heed to the roadside stand or to the people who ran it. If at all they did, it was to complain. Which lines bring this out? What was their complain about?
Answer: The lines that reflects the above meaning are as follows:
"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"
The people from the city who passes by complains that the roadside stands put up by the
people are pathetic and artless which are ruining the beautiful scenary of the landscape.

Question. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand ?
Answer: The folk that had put up the roadside stand was poor and was living in pathetic conditon.The folk had put up the stand in hope of getting some city money from the passersby. So, the plea was for some city money.

Question. The government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor rural people, but actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show their
double standards?
Answer: The words and phrases used by the poet to show their double standard are: "greedy
good-doers","beneficent beasts of prey" , "swarm over their lives", "soothe them out of their wits"

Question. What is the 'childish longing' that the poet refers to ? Why is it in 'vain' ?
Answer: The "childish longing' the poet is referring to is the poor rural people's hopes and desires to earn some cash from the passersby.
It is in vain beacuse although they wait for the passersby to halt and buy from their roadside stand, their speeding car never stops to make any purchase. They speed off without paying any heed to the stands.

Question. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural people?
Answer: The lines from the poem whic tells us the poets insufferable pain that he feeels at the thought of the plight of the rural people ar as follows:
"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"

Question. Who are referred to as the 'flower of cities' ?
Answer: The pleasures of the cities are referred to as the "flower of cities".

Question. What are being sold in that roadside stand ?
Answer: Wild berries and crook-necked golden squash with silver warts and similar other products are being sold in that roadside stand.

Question. Why do the people running the roadside stand ask for some city money ?
Answer: The people running the roadside stand are poor and they desire a prosperous life like that of the city dwellers shown in movies. They knew that only through money they can experince the pleasures of life so that is why they ask for some city money.

Question. Who has betrayed the rural people and how?
Answer: The rich and the powerful people are the ones that betrayed the rural people. They disguised themselves as their messiah who will protect them from all miseries but instead they
loot them and make them dependent on their mercy for all basic things required to sustain life.
They did nothing so as to make their lives a little better filled with happiness.

Question. Why do the people wait all day long for?
Answer: The rural people wait all day long expecting customers that passes by in speeding cars to halt and come to their open window of their houses to buy products from them. But they really never stop to buy anything.

Question. What will be of great relief to the poet?
Answer: The pain and suffering of the poor people melts the poet's heart. He could hardly bear it sometimes so he feels that death will ultimately take away all their sufferings. If they cease to exist, it will bring the poet a great relief.

Question. "The little old house was out with a little new shed.." What does the poet mean by the phrase "old house was out with..."?
Answer: The phrase "old house was with ..." is used by the poet to express the yearning of the poor
people to earn money by putting up the roadside stand.

Extract Based Questions

1.
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

Question. The news of the hour is___________________
i) The people like the farmers will be bought out
ii) They are going to be relocated
iii) They wouldn‘t have to fend for themselves
iv) All the above
Answer: All the above

Question. What is the tone of the poet in the above lines?
A. Aggressive B. Tolerant C. Sarcastic D. Resigned. E. Sentimental
Choose the most appropriate option:
(i) Only (A) (ii) (B) and (C) (iii) (A), (D) and (E) (iv) Only (C)
Answer: Only (C)

Question. Point out the irony in ‘mercifully gathered in’.
Answer: The irony is that the relocation of the country people is disguised as a charitable act but in reality, it is a very cunning, self-serving and money making act of the government and the moneyed people.

Question. Complete the following analogy correctly.
Furrow followed free : alliteration: :............: oxymoron.
Answer: beneficent beasts

Question. On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to (1) and (2) given below:
(1) The politicians are referred as ‘greedy good-doers’.
(2) The politicians have ulterior motives.
(i) (1) is true but (2) is false.
(ii) (2) is true but (1) is false..
(iii) (2) is the reason for (1).
(iv) Both (1) and (2) cannot be inferred from the extract.
Answer: (2) is the reason for (1).

Question. Explain why merciful have been called ‘greedy good-doers‘ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey‘?
Answer: 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. 

 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,
You have the money, but if you want to be mean,
Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along

Question. Polished traffic is an example of………………….
(i) transferred epithet
(ii) metaphor
(iii) personification
(iv) simile
Answer: transferred epithet .

Question. The urban rich feel ___________about the S and N signs that have been painted wrong
i) amused
ii) tolerant
iii) compassionate
iv) annoyed
Answer: annoyed

Question. Name two things that were sold at the roadside stand.
Answer: Wild berries and golden squash (gourd)

Question. ‘Marred with the artless paint’ does not include
i)The rural landscape
ii) The disorganized design of dwellings
iii)The lack of artistic finesse among the rural folk
iv) The dirt that splashes on to the polished and beautiful cars
Answer: The dirt that splashes on to the polished and beautiful cars.

Question. ‘The urban and educated people have their minds ahead.’
Choose the option suggesting the correct meaning behind this line.
i)The people are well-educated and knowledgeable about the condition of the poor.
ii)The people are concentrating on the road that is ahead in order to drive safely.
iii)The people are preoccupied only by the thoughts of their lives and nothing else.
iv) The people are focused on their goal of bettering the country.
Answer: The people are preoccupied only by the thoughts of their lives and nothing else.

Question. Find word from the stanza which means ’refined’ .
Answer: polished

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

Question. 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: at the edge of the road

Question. 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.

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

Question. 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.

Question. 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.

Question. The flower of cities’ is a
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) personification
(d) alliteration
Answer: metaphor

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

Question. 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.

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

Question. 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.

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

Question. 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.

Question. Who has the money?
(a) the roadside stand
(b) the village people
(c) the city people
(d) no one
Answer: the village people

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

Question. 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.

Question. 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.

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

Question. 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.

Question. What will be next to the villages
(a) shed
(b) Old house
(c) store
(d) kin
Answer: store

Question. Where are they gathered?
(a) in a roadside stand
(b) in the village
(c) in the city
(d) in the theatre
Answer: in the villages

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

Question. 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.

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

Question. 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.

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

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

Question. Who enforces benefits?
(a) school
(b) teacher
(c) politicians
(d) village people
Answer: politicians

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

Question. Who does another refer to?
(a) stand
(b) shed
(c) car
(d) road
Answer: car

Question. 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.

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

Question. 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.

Question. ‘gallon of gas’ is a
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) pun
(d) alliteration
Answer: alliteration

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