Poem 5. A Roadside Stand
(Robert Frost)
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.
5. A Roadside Stand
(Robert Frost)
Very Short Type Q-Ans.
1. Who is the poet of the
poem, ‘A Roadside Stand’?
Ans. Robert Frost
2. Where was the new
shed?
Ans. On the edge of the road
3. What does the stall
owner expect?
Ans. People would stop and buy things
4. How do the rich people
feel when they see the shed?
Ans. Irritated
5. What does the ‘artless
paint’ do to the landscape?
Ans. Spoiled its beauty
6. What was offered for
sale there?
Ans. Wild berries
7. What is the aim of the
people who run the roadside stand?
Ans. Earning money
8. Who are ‘all these
pitiful kin’?
Ans. Poor peasants
9. What do the selfish
rich people do the poor?
Ans. They exploit the poor
10.What is meant by ‘childish longing’?
Ans. The longing of child to have
some toys
11.What does the speaker want someone to do?
Ans. To buy some things from his shop
12.Why did the first, second and third car stop
there?
Ans. First to turn back, second to ask the way
and third for gas
Short Questions
Q 1. What is the ‘childish longing’ that
the poet refers to? Why is it ‘vain’?
Ans. The poet refers to the farmers' longing
for customers at their roadside stall. This is because no one stopped to buy anything.
They stop only for asking direction or for gas. Hence, this
child-longing is 'vain'.
Q 2. Where was the
roadside stand put up and what for?
Ans. They wait all day for the cars to stop and buy
something and give them money. They wanted to earn money from them. That is
why; they had put up the roadside stand in the countryside.
Q 3. What is the man at the stall waiting for all
the day?
Ans. The people of the roadside stand sat in prayer
that some city traffic should stop by and buy their wares so that they could
make some money to improve their life.
Q. 4 What was the plea
of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
Ans. The folks who had put up the roadside
stand wanted the passers-by
to stop and buy something, which they sold so that they could have some ready
cash. They wanted to earn some money so that they could lead a comfortable
life.
Long Answer
1. Write in brief the
theme/central idea of the poem 'A Roadside Stand'.
Ans. In this poem,
Robert Frost comments on rich people who don’t show any sympathy towards
poor people. The poet tells that poor villager setup a stand near the road
to sells the things to earn some money. People passed from there but they
don’t buy any things. They only complained for artless painting. Some cars came
there only to ask the things not to buy anything.
Important Spellings & Word-meanings
Important Spellings
Sympathy
complaints
businessman
customers
directions
pathetically
scenery
peacefully
political
beneficent
Word-meanings
Plight - difficult situation
marred - spoiled
crossly - angrily
longing - desires, requisite
lurks - hidden
squeal - cry
sane - sensible
swarm - to control