Word Meaning, Summary, Important Questions,Of Chapter 5 A Roadside Stand | Class 12

Hindi Meaning Of Difficult Words | A Roadside Stand

About The Poet | Robert Frost | A Roadside Stand

Robert Frost (1874-1963) is a highly acclaimed American poet of the twentieth century. Robert Frost wrote about characters, people and landscapes. His poems are concerned with human tragedies and fears, his reaction to the complexities of life and his ultimate acceptance of his burdens. ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Birches, Mending Walls’ are a few of his well-known poems. In the poem ‘A Roadside Stand, Frost presents the lives of poor deprived people with pitiless clarity and with the deepest sympathy and humanity.

Short Summary Of A Roadside Stand In English

In the beginning of the poem the poet tells the readers about a small shed put up by the residents of the little old house, on the edge of a highway, where the passing of vehicles coming from the city is a continuous process. The poet describes the little shed as make shift and in pitiful condition, and silently urging the vehicle owners to stop and buy knick-knacks from them. They don’t seek charity by doing this, they are in dire need of money for sustenance. Money is essential part of life, and it’s the finest, the best thing about the cities. It is wealth that keeps cities from sinking and dying.

Mr. Frost then compares and contrasts the pathetic conditions of the poor people and their unfortunate means of earning a living with the polished city people driving their swanky cars. The poet says that their sophistication meets the crudeness of the village people on a harsh note. As the hand painted road signs come into their view, one can see that the directions North and South are painted incorrectly by the poor,

unsophisticated people. This does not form any sympathy in the city people, who are expected to stop by the shed and buy something. Instead this infuriates and irks the city people who feel that such sights are a blemish in the picturesque view of the countryside. As a result, the city dwellers are unable to appreciate the rustic beauty.

The poet describes all the things that are up for sale by the poor village people. There are wild berries in wooden containers golden squash with crooked neck and silver warts and painting of the exquisite mountainside views. The villagers take it to their hearts, that their fresh produce and works of art are rejected by the urbanites. They have a lot of money, but they are mean and blind to the humble lives the poor live.

Further Mr. Frost, speaking from the point of view of the poor villagers, says that such rejection from the city people hurts and angers the former. So far, their needs have been ignored. They too need a bit of the city wealth, which is available in abundance to the rich city people. They too desire to experience some of the luxuries the films have shown them but have been denied to them by the political party in power.

In the next lines the poet says that there had been news about the relocation of the deprived people. They would be removed from their life of poverty and accommodated in the lap of comfort where they would live close to the movie theatres and the stores. The poor farm people’s lands will be bought out by city-dwellers who will only keep expanding their reach. The poor will not have the decision making power, but the greedy, so called good doers, whom Mr. Frost calls ‘beneficient beasts of prey will hover around them with false benefits. Such benefits are for selfish cause which would benefit the latter more than the former. These benefits might seem advantageous at first, but eventually, the poor people will end up forsaking their simple, old ways of living and working hard. As a result, they would lose their peaceful sleep at the end of a hard day. In other words, the lives of poor people will become riddled with difficulties while the good-doers’ will continue to live in luxury.

Then Mr. Frost reveals his own sadness that descends upon him when he thinks about the predicament of the poor. He calls their continual expectation  that some car may stop in front of their door childish. The poor farmers eagerly wait to hear the squeal of cars coming to a halt. They stand by the open window and constantly pray for customers from the city, but it is all in vain. Most cars just zoom past them except a few that stop either to make a turn in the poor man’s backyard or to ask directions. Some of the cars stop only to ask if he has a gallon of gas, which he might want to sell. Unfortunately, it is the only thing that the poor man does not have to sell.

In the last lines the poet claims that business is not profitable for those living in the countryside. No matter how hard they try they never seem to have enough money to enjoy the luxuries that city people have. Mr. Frost then goes on to say that sometimes he feels relief to think if only he could put the poor people out of their misery all at once. Here the poet may have suggested the concept of euthanasia or mercy killing. Ending their life would certainly end their suffering. But fortunately, Mr. Frost says, he did not dwell much on that thought and his sanity returned. He wonders how he might feel if someone, seeing him in pain thought of putting an end to it by putting him to sleep.

Important Previous Year Questions From A Roadside Stand

SAI (2 marks)

1. What are the probable causes of the passing cars to stop near the roadside stand? (2020)

Questions for Excellence

SAI (2 marks)

1. Why have the poor farmers put up a new shed on the edge of the highway?
2. What all things are up for sale by the poor people?
3. What was in the news? 
4. Why does the poet call the longings of the poor people childish and done in vain? 5. What desire the poet have for the poor people?

SA III (4 marks)

6. 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.

(i) Name the poem and the poet.

(ii) Define ‘polished traffic.

(iii) What makes the city people angry? 

(iv) What is the meaning of the word ‘marred’?

7. Here far from the city we make our roadside 

stand

And ask for some city money to feel in hand bound; 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 

(i) Why do the poor people want some ‘city money’?

 (ii) What have the moving-pictures’ promised to the rural people? 

(iii) Why hasn’t the promise been fulfilled yet?

(iv) What is the rhyming scheme of the given lines?

8. 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.

(i) Why does the poet call the good-doers ‘greedy’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’? 

(ii) What will be the effect of all the benefits on the poor?

(iii) In the last line of the given stanza, whose sleep, would get destroyed and why?

(iv) Give the meaning of the word ‘beneficent.

9. 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?

(i) Name the poem and the poet of the given stanza.

(ii) Who is stopping and where? Give two examples of why are they stopping?

(iii) What did one of the city people want to buy? What happened after the request was made?

(iv) Give meaning of the word ‘bound.

10. 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.

(i)What was on the edge of the road? 

(ii) What did the roadside stand look like?

(iii) What made the poor farmers set up a shed?

(iv) What is the meaning of the flower of cities’?

Answers for Questions for Excellence

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Answer Of Chapter 5 A Roadside Stand For The Above Questions

1. In the poem the Roadside Stand, Robert Frost criticizes the snobbish and selfish needs of the rich people who stop their cars for their own needs rather than helping the poor who have their roadside stands. Sometimes they stop by to inquire about the vegetables but have no intention of purchasing them, sometimes they stop to reverse their cars while some stop just to ask the correct directions of roads.
2. The poor farmers have set up a new shed on the edge of the highway because they hope the city people who commute on that road, will take pity on them and buy things from them. This will get the poor farmers some money.
3. The things that are up for sale include, wild berries in wooden containers, golden squash with silver warts and crooked necks, a beautiful mountain scene, etc.
4. There was news that the deprived people will be relocated to a place where they will have all the basic amenities; they will live closer to the theatres and store, and will enjoy various benefits bestowed upon them. the sound of cars stopping. However no car ever stops in front of their doors, and no city people ever wants to buy their things. Therefore, the poet calls their longing childish and done in vain.
5. The poet cannot bear to see them sad and helpless and wishes to end the pain and suffering of the poor even if it means ending their lives.
6. (i) Name of the poem is A Roadside Stand and the poet is Robert Frost.

(ii) The sophisticated city dwellers zooming past the crude and humble abode of the poor people, in their swanky cars is termed by the poet as ‘polished traffic.

(iii) When the sophisticated city people see the crudely hand painted road signs that too painting towards wrong directions, it irritates them. They feel irked thinking the beautiful view of the countryside has been disturbed by such sights of unsophistication. They are unable to appreciate it. 

(iv) Spoil/disfigure

7. (i) The poor people want some city money because they too wish a bit of share in the abundant city wealth.

(ii) The ‘moving-pictures’ or the movies have promised a life of luxury and abundance to the poor people.

(iii) The political party in power had been preventing the wealth and luxuries from reaching the poor people.

(Iv) ABS

8. (i) The poet calls the good-doers so because the benefits which they bestow upon the poor people are forced and really for their personal gain.

(ii) The poor people will become lethargic and they will sleep all day. They’ll stop working hard and would only want to lead a comfortable and luxurious life.

(iii) The poor people’s sleep would get destroyed because given the benefits of wealth and luxury, they will forsake their ancient way of working hard by day and sleeping peacefully at night. In other words, their simple life will be riddled with difficulties.

(iv) Generous

9. (i) The poem is A Roadside Stand and the poet is Robert Frost. 

(ii) It is the rich city people in their big cars, stopping in front of poor people’s houses. They are stopping for various reasons, for eg, one wanted to use the yard to back and turn around, another wanted to know the road to where it was headed, etc.

(iii) One of the city people wanted to buy a gallon of gas from the poor farmer. The poor farmer had many things to sell to the rich city dweller except a gallon of gas. Therefore, the poor farmer lost the opportunity to earn some money.

(iv) Travelling towards

10. (i) A little old house, the residents of which had set up a new shed on the edge of the road. 

(ii) The roadside stand was a make-shift shack, which appeared to be in a deplorable condition. 

(iii) The poor farmers wanted to earn some money by selling fresh produce from their farm to the rich city dwellers instead of seeking charity from them. 

(iv) Here the phrase means the finest or the best part of the city.

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Prose

Poem

Vistas

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