CBSE Class 12 English A Roadside Stand Worksheet Set 03

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. ‘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. 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 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. 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. 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 their suffering.

Question. Have you ever stopped at a roadside stand? What have you observed there?
Answer: The poet believes that when we encounter a beautiful thing, even for a small moment, the pleasure remains with us forever. It leaves a lasting impression that inspires us to live life with hope and optimism.

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 complaint about?
Answer: “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”
According to the city folk, these stalls with inartistic signboards blemish the scenic beauty of the landscape.

Question. What was the plea of the folk 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. 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 poet criticizes the double standards of the government and other social service agencies who promise to improve the standard of living of the poor farmers and show them the rosy side of life. Yet, when the time comes to deliver their promise, they either forget
them or fulfill them keeping in view their own benefits. The poet calls them “greedy gooddoers” and “beneficent beasts of prey”, who “swarm over their lives”. The poet says that these greedy people make calculated and well thought-out shrewd moves, to which the innocent, unaware farmers fall prey. These humble and simple farmers are robbed of their peace of mind by these clever people. The poet says, “…..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.”

Question. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘vain’?
Answer: The poet thinks that the persons who are running the roadside stand, suffer from a childish longing. They are always expecting customers and waiting for their prospective customers. They keep their windows open to attract them. They become sad when no one turns up. They are always waiting to hear the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car. But all their efforts go in vain.

Question. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?
Answer: Filled with empathy, the poet is unable to bear the plight of the unassuming and innocent rural people. The lines below show his insufferable pain:
“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”

Long Answer 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.