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.
Table of Contents
A Roadside Stand Notes | Class XII
Textual Question Answers
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?
Q. 2. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
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.
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
Q. 5. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?
Additional Question Answers
Q.1. What is the news?
Q.2. How does the traffic pass?
Q.3. Name some of the things that the roadside stands offer to sell.
Q.4. According to the poet, what will give relief to the poet?
Q.5. Who has betrayed the village poor people?
Q.7. What things irritated the passersby who stopped at the roadside stand?
Q.7. Why does the poet sympathize with the rural people?
Q.8. How did the travellers on the highways react to the roadside stand? H.S. ’19
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
Q. 10. What will be a great relief to the poet? H. S. ’18
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
(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.’
(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.”
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
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