A Roadside Stand Notes | Class XII

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Discover ‘A Roadside Stand Notes, Class XII,’ a thorough manual containing all textual and crucial supplementary questions, designed in straightforward language to assist students in comprehension and exam readiness.

A Roadside Stand Notes

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A Roadside Stand Notes | Class XII

– Robert Frost

Textual Question Answers

(Think it out).  Each bearing 2 Marks

Q.1. 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 complain. Which lines bring this out? What was their complaint about?

Ans: The following lines bring out the complaint of the city folk:
“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 city folk complained that the artless paint of the roadside stand had spoilt the beauty of the entire place.

Q. 2. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?

Ans: The folk who had put up the stand on the roadside were poor farmers. They hoped, the poeple, passing by in vehicles, to stop and buy something from their items so that they can earn some money from them.

Q. 3. The Government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor, but actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show their double standards.

Ans: The Government and the party in power were indifferent to the welfare of the poor rural people. No social service agencies were doing any good to them.
The words and phrases that the poet uses to show their double standards are:
‘While greedy good-doers, beneficient beasts of prey,
Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits
That are calculated to soothe them out their wits.’

Q. 4. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it vain? H. S. ’17

Or

Why is the longing of the roadside stand people called childish? H. S. ’24

Ans: Like innocent children, the poor farmers wait all day long for some vehicles to come and stop to buy some food items from their stand. But it never happens. In this way, their childish longing goes on in vain.

Q. 5. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?

Ans: The lines that tell us about the insufferable pain of the poor are-
”I wonder how I should like you to come to me
And offer to put me gently out of my pain.”

Additional Question Answers

A.  Short Answer type Questions. (Each bearing 2 Marks)

Q.1. What is the news?

Ans: The news is that the poor people who live in the pitiable condition should be brought together out with their belongings and they should be made to live in the village next to the theatre and the store.

Q.2. How does the traffic pass?

Ans: The traffic passes by the roadside stands without stopping there. They drive their vehicles ahead without noticing the roadside stands.

Q.3. Name some of the things that the roadside stands offer to sell.

Ans: The names of some things that the roadside stands offer to sell are – wild berries and golden squash.

Q.4. According to the poet, what will give relief to the poet?

Ans: The poet thinks that the release of the poor rural people from their state of sorrow and misery will give great relief to the poet. All should come out with a helping hand to the poor.

Q.5. Who has betrayed the village poor people?

Ans: The party in power has betrayed the village people.
The party in power makes promises to improve their lives but when they are in power they don’t care for the needs of the poor.

Q.7. What things irritated the passersby who stopped at the roadside stand?

Ans: The badly built houses and the artless paints of signboards in the poor areas irritated the passersby who stopped at the roadside stand.

Q.7. Why does the poet sympathize with the rural people?

Ans: The poet sympathizes with the rural people because they are very poor and can hardly buy their food. The government is indifferent to their welfare. They are being exploited by the greedy good-doers and crafty businessmen.

Q.8. How did the travellers on the highways react to the roadside stand? H.S. ’19

Ans: The travellers on the highways sometimes stopped at the roadside stand not to buy any food items but to make complaints that the letters on the signboard were written wrongly and the bad paintings had marred the beauty of the locality.

Q. 9. Of all the thousands of selfish cars some stop there but not for buying something. Why do they stop there at all? H. S. ’16

Ans: The poor people who were running the roadside stands expected that the travellers would stop there and buy something from their stands. But the travellers did not do so. Of course, some stopped only to ask about the way and some stopped to ask if they could sell a gallon of gas.

Q. 10. What will be a great relief to the poet? H. S. ’18

Ans: The poet is very sympathetic to the plight of the poor village people. He thinks that he will get relief only if the poor people are put out of their pain and poverty with one blow.  Their miserable life is not better than death.  So the poet wants an immediate solution to their sufferance.
B. Question- Answers from the Extracts of the Poem (Each bearing 4 Marks)

Q.1. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

(a) ‘The little old house was out with a little new shed
……………… and withering faint.’ H. S. ’24
Questions:
(i) Where was the stand situated? 1
(ii) Explain, “Too pathetically pled’. 2
(iii) Find words from the stanza that mean: (a) corner (b) becoming dry and faded. 1
Ans: (i) The stand was situated at the edge of the road.
(ii) The phrase ‘too pathetically means ‘to beg most modestly’.
(iii) The aim of those who ran the stand was to earn some money.
(b) ‘It is in the news that all these pitiful kin
Are to be brought out and mercifully gathered in
……………. at night the ancient way.’
Questions:
(i) Why would not these poor people have to drink for themselves? 1
(ii) How will the innocent rural people be soothed out of their wits? 2
(iii) Who are destroying sleep and how? 1
(iv) Find out the words or phrases that mean (a) generous and (b) flesh-eating animal.
Ans: (i) The poor people won’t have to drink for themselves because they would be in the grasp of cunning and selfish people.
(ii) The innocent rural people would be soothed by the selfish people using exploitation.
(iii) The greedy good-doers are destroying their sleep. They use their tricks to make them poorer.
(iv) The words that mean, (a) generous is ‘beneficent’; and (b) ‘ flesh-eating animal’ is ‘beast of prey.
(c) “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.”
Questions :
(i) What is the childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘in vain’? 2
Ans: Like innocent children, the poor farmers wait all day long for some vehicles to come and stop to buy some food items from their stand. But it never happens. In this way, their childish longing goes on in vain.
(ii) Who waits near the open window? 1
Ans: The poor rural people wait near the open window.
(iii) What does the person waiting near the open window pray for? 1
Ans: The person waiting near the open window prays that the cars running through the road would stop at the roadside stand and buy some goods from them and thus the poor villagers would earn their livelihood. 0 0 0
N.B. Dear readers, if you find ‘A Roadside Stand Notes’, Class XII’ helpful, we kindly encourage you to share your thoughts. Your feedback, both formative and suggestive, is greatly appreciated and valued.
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A Roadside Stand Notes: Text

Here is the text of the poem “A Roadside Stand” by Robert Frost:

A Roadside Stand

”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 theater 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.” 0 0 0

 

A Roadside Stand Notes: Summary

Here’s a summary of the poem “A Roadside Stand” by Robert Frost in easy language:

The poem describes a small roadside stand set up by poor farmers along a busy highway. The stand sells simple items like wild berries and vegetables, with signs written clumsily in hopes of attracting passing travelers. The people who run the stand are not begging for charity; instead, they hope to earn some money from the city folks who pass by in their cars.

However, most travelers either ignore the stand or stop only to complain about how it spoils the view or to ask for directions. The farmers wait all day, longing for someone to stop and buy something, but very few do. This situation highlights the farmers’ deep hope for a better life, which they believe money can bring, but their dreams are constantly shattered by the indifference of the passing cars.

The poem also touches on the idea that the government and wealthy people often make promises to help poor rural communities by relocating them to better places, but these actions usually strip the rural folks of their independence, turning them into passive recipients of charity rather than helping them thrive on their own.

Through this poem, Robert Frost emphasizes the struggle and disappointment of rural people who are trying to improve their lives but are repeatedly let down by the lack of genuine support and understanding from the wealthier city people. The poet feels sympathy for the farmers and wishes their suffering could end, but he also reflects on the complexities of truly helping them without taking away their dignity and independence. 0 0 0

N.B. Dear readers, if you find ”A Roadside Stand Notes, Class XII’ helpful, we kindly encourage you to share your thoughts. Your feedback, both formative and suggestive, is greatly appreciated and valued.

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