TLIS_ENGLISH/Sep 2020-21

THE LEXICON SCHOOLS

(Wagholi ● Hadapsar ● Kalyani Nagar)
NOTES
Class: XII Subject: English
Topic: Literature

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Students will be able to compare urban life and rural life.
2. Students will be able to sympathise with the poor people.
3. Students will be able to comprehend the core realities of the society.
4. Students will be able to appreciate different forms of poetry.

HORNBILL P4 -
A ROADSIDE STAND BY ROBERT FROST

SUMMARY AND EXPLANATION

TEXT LINK
http://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/lefl115.pdf
VIDEO LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXDg9CThXUE

ABOUT THE POET

Robert frost was born in San Francisco on 26 March,1874. During his childhood he was sickly
and neurotic. His father died of tuberculosis when he was only eleven years old.
Frost and his family went to New England to have his father's a remains buried there. They
had to settle down at Salem in New Hampshire because they had no money to return back.
He wrote poetry whenever he found time.
In 1912 he made a crucial decision of his life. He choose poetry for his vocation. He left for
England with his wife and four children. Within six months of his arrival in England, Frost
decided to publish a collection of his earlier poems.
His poetic career was studded with honours such as membership in the American Academy
and Pulitzer Prize. Robert Frost died in January 1963.

INTRODUCTION
In the poem, A Roadside Stand, he tries to express complexities of human life and miserable
conditions of poor people and selfishness of rich class people and highlight the poor financial
conditions and hard work of poor village farmers and greediness of rich people.

THEME

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The poem ‘A Roadside Stand’ is the poet’s plea for consideration for the simple people of the
countryside whose lives have shown no progress. He expresses his pain at their sadness and
sorrow and seeks support and relief for them. He hopes someone would work unselfishly for
their rehabilitation and not exploit them. He brings out the wide disparity between the ‘haves’
and the ‘have-nots’ with pitiless clarity and humanity and seems to suggest that the economic
well-being of a country depends on a balanced development of villages and cities.

SUMMARY AND EXPLANATION

SUMMARY
Poet Robert Frost has always been attached to the complexities of human life and man's
ultimate acceptance of his burdens.
These are the themes that find expression in most of his poems. Like his other well known
poems dealing with human tragedies and fears, this poem " A Roadside Stand " too is about the
lives of poor deprived people who have always borne the agencies.
The poet contrasts the lives of the necessitous people of the countryside, with the inconsiderate
and insensitive city dwellers who don't even bother to notice the roadside stand that these
people have put up to sell their goods.
These poor people wait in vain for the passing cars to stop and buy their fare. If at all a car
stops by, it is either to ask directions or to complain about something.
The poet's deep sympathy and compassion towards the impoverished needy people is evident in
the poignant portrayal of the little roadside sheds and the person standing there with the hope
of earning his livelihood.

STANZA 1
‘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
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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.’

EXPLANATION
The first stanza is a description of a small shed on the roadside and the intention behind setting
it there. A vegetable stand is built by a small-time farmer outside his house at the edge of the
highway with the hope that the cars frequently passing by stop and buy some of his farm yields
and he would be able to earn money for his livelihood.
City dwellers are often affluent people on whom the poor sellers or vendors depend for their
earning. The poor farmer does not beg. Though his condition is pathetic. Even in poverty he
wants to make a decent living by selling his farm produce.
But the insensitivity of the rich class of people is seen when none of the cars stop or even
bother to glance in the direction of the stand. Without even a show of compassion or sympathy,
they rather comment on the view that is being spoilt by the construction of the sheds or the
flaws and bad quality of paint in the direction boards.
They feel these stands are a blemish on the rural landscape they are passing through. These
indifferent passersby are absolutely nonchalant about the toil of the farmer and the hardship he
has to face in selling the produce.
The cars speed away without even noticing the berries and squash displayed for sale in the
stand or even the beautiful mountain scene that lie in the backdrop.

The farmer tells the rich traveller to hold on to his money if he wishes to be so mean and also
that it does not bother him so much when the picturesque view of the mountain is so casually
neglected.
But the farmer is pained at being ignored so blatantly. He only wanted little money in return to
his goods so that he too could afford to enjoy some of the luxuries often portrayed by movies
and the media and have always been denied to him by the political parties.

STANZA 2
‘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.’

EXPLANATION

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These poor people have certain so called benefactors who plan to relocate them in villages
where they can enjoy the cinema or have easy access to stores.
But these people are actually selfishly motivated and render help only if they see their own
advantage in sight. Such seeming philanthropists wish to make these villagers completely
dependent on them for all their benefits and comforts.
The ignorant villagers do not realise that in the process they are being robbed of their ability to
think for themselves or be independent. These apparent good doers impress upon the minds of
the impoverished village folk in such a way that they become unable to use their brain.
They no longer get a good night's sleep because they have not worked during the day or because
they are troubled by their new lifestyle. These ancient way of working during the day and sound
sleep at night is completely reversed by this new way of seemingly comfortable life.

STANZA 3
‘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?’

EXPLANATION
At times the poet finds it difficult to bear the vain, wait and disappointment of the farmer as he
endlessly waits for the sound of brakes near his stand.
The open windows of the farmer's house seem to wait all day for the sound of a car stopping to
make a purchase.
Unfortunately, disappointment alone greets the expectant farmer as vehicles do stop but only to
enquire the price, or for directions to their destination, to reverse the car on the grass at the
farmer's yard or otherwise to ask for a gallon of gas.

STANZA 4
‘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.

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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.’

EXPLANATION
Progress of a nation or a place cannot be achieved without the primary requisite, that is money.
And it is also undeniable that materials gains of a section cannot uplift a nation when half of its
population lives in poverty.
According to the poet, the progress required has not been found by these country folks and their
lifestyle provides ample evidence to support this. Thus, the poet pleads the cause of these
people and says he would be relieved if they are put out their misery ' at one stroke '.
He implies that death is much better than living in eternal misery. However, in a more rational
frame of mind, he wonders how he would feel if someone offered to kill him in order to put him
out of misery.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q1. 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?
Ans: The Lines in the poem which brings out the callous and insensitive attitude of the city
dwellers are,
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...Those speeding by in their 'polished' cars complained about the view that
was being spoilt by the construction of the shabby little roadside stand or the flaws and
clumsiness of paint on the direction boards. they feel these stands are a blemish on the
rural landscape they are passing through.

Q2. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand ?
Ans: The poor farmers did not beg, they just wanted to earn a livelihood by selling their
goods. the folk who had put up the roadside stand, waited all day long and pleaded for
some country money so to sustain his family.

Q3. 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.
Ans: The government and other social service agencies, the seeming benefactors who
appear to help the poor are actually trying to fulfil their own selfish motives. The words and
phrases that describe their double standards are, 'greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of
prey..... that are calculated to soothe their out of their wits.

Q4. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘vain’?
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Ans: The Childish longing the poet refers to the eager and anxious wait of the farmers for a
prospective customer. They keep their windows open with the hope that they would come
and buy something from their stand. But it went in vain as it completely ignored by the
traffic and no one turned up to buy.

Q5. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the
plight of the rural poor?
Ans: The concluding lines of the poem speak of the poet's pain at the suffering of the rural
people. "I can't help owning the great relief it would be. To put these people at one stroke
out of their pain.

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THE LEXICON SCHOOLS

(Wagholi ● Hadapsar ● Kalyani Nagar)
WORKSHEET
Class: XII Subject: English
Topic: A Roadside Stand

Q1. Read the extract and answer the following question-

a. ‘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) Where was the stand situated ? 

(ii) Explain, "too pathetically pled"? 
(iii) Find words from the stanza that mean (a) corner
(b) becoming dry and faded. 

b. ‘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’

(i)Why did the first car stop by the roadside stand?

(ii)Why did the second car stop?
(iii)Why did the third car stop?
(iv)Why is the poet annoyed with the last car?

c. ‘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’
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(i) Why would not these poor people have to think for themselves?
(ii) How will the innocent rural people be soothed out of their wits?
(iii) Who are destroying sleep and how?
(iv) Find the words or phrase that mean (a) generous. (b) flesh eating animal.

Q2. Answer the following questions in 40-50 words-

a. How did the village folk mar the landscape?
b. Why do people who are running the roadside stand 'ask for some city money'?
c. What did the folks of the roadside stand desire for?
d. Who has betrayed the village people? How?
e. Of all the thousand selfish cars some stop there but not for buying something. Why do
they stop there at stall?
f. How did the travellers on the highways react to the roadside stand?

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