A Roadside Stand by Robert Frost
Short Answer-type Qs
Q1. What does
the roadside stand seem to plead?
Ans. It seems to plead
that its owner is a poor person. He needs the support of rich persons to
change his lifestyle.
Q2. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet
refers to? Why is it vain? Or Why does Robert Frost sympathize with the rural
people?
Ans. The
owners of the roadside stands to keep on hoping against hope that the rich would
stop their cars and purchase something from them. The poet calls it their
childish longing.
Q3. What news is talked about in the poem ‘A Roadside
Stand’?
Ans. The news is that the poor people would be shifted
from their places. They would be provided houses in cities. Their poverty would
finish (remain no more).
Q4. What do the people in the cars do if ever they
look towards these roadside stands?
Ans. They
feel irritated and utter some words in disgust. They do not like the way they
have painted their house and how they have put signboards there. They think
that the beauty of the place has been destroyed by them.
Q5.Why
is it unfair to say that these people are begging for a ‘dole of bread?’
Ans. The owners
of the roadside stand are not beggars. They wait for the customers to sell them
their articles like vegetables, fruit and other eatables.
Q6.What
is the flower of the cities? How?
Ans.
Prosperity/growth is the flower of the cities. As the flower is the crowning
glory of a plant, growth becomes the flower of a city.
Q7.
What do you mean by ‘polished traffic?
Ans. Polished
traffic stands for the flashy and expensive cars. The owners of the cars may
seem to be polished in their behaviour. But they are insensitive to the poor
and suffering people.
Q8.
What are the usual complaints made by the city men when they stop at the
roadside stand?
Ans. The rich
people complain that the owners of the roadside stand have spoilt the beauty of
the landscape. The letters on the boards are written wrongly and in a bad
manner and the directions also shown in a wrong manner.
Q9.
How did the poor people “mar” the landscape?
Ans. The poor
people mar/ruin the beauty of the landscape by making their roadside stand in
an unsystematic way. They have no aesthetic sense. They write words in wrong
spellings. They paint the walls of the roadside stands artlessly.
Q10.
What do the people at the roadside stand expect from the rich? What for?
Ans. The people at the roadside stand expect that
the rich people should stop near their stands and purchase something from them.
They do not expect any charity from them.
Stanzas: 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 city money, the
cash, whose flow supports
The flower of cities from sinking and
withering faint.
Q1. Name the poem and its poet.
Ans. The name/ title of
the poem is ‘A Roadside Stand’ and its poet is Robert Frost.
Q2. Where was the ‘little old house’ situated?
Ans. It was situated at
the edge of the road leading to the city.
Q3. What does the flow of cash support as has been
said in the above lines?
Ans. It supports flowers
and lawns of the cities.
Q4. What would not be fair as quoted in the above
lines?
Ans. It would not be fair
to think that the roadside stand was set up for begging ‘a dole of bread’ from
the rich people.
Q5. What are the beauties of the cities?
Ans. The flowers in the
houses, lawns, parks, etc. are the beauties of the cities.
Q6. What is the rhyme scheme in the above lines?
Ans. aaaabc
Stanza 2: 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 with S turned wrong and N
turned wrong
Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts,
Q1. Name the poem and its poet. Ans. The name/
title of the poem is ‘A Roadside Stand’ and its poet is Robert Frost.
Q2. What do the polished traffic stand for/symbolise? Ans. It stands
for the polished cars.
Q3. How do the polished traffic pass? Ans. It
passes keeping destination in mind looking forward.
Q4.Wherefrom do the polished traffic pass? Ans.
It passes by the roadside stand.
Q5. What do the person who looked for a moment towards
the stand think for a moment?
Ans. He would think that
the beauty of the landscape has been damaged by the shed. The directions at the
signboard have wrongly been pointed.
Q6. What has been painted artlessly? Ans. The house has artlessly been painted.
Q7. What has been shown ‘S turned wrong and N turned wrong’?
Ans. The directions on the signboard have wrongly
been shown.
Stanza 3: The hurt to the
scenery wouldn’t be my complaint
So much as the trusting sorrow of what
is unsaid:
Q1.
Whose complaint is about the ‘hurt of the scenery’?
Ans. It is the complaint made by the owners of the
flashy cars.
Q2.
What does the poet mean by ‘trusting sorrow’?
Ans. The poor people have full faith in the false
promises made to them by the politicians. They continue waiting for their
fulfilment and that causes sorrow in their minds.
Q3. What is ‘unsaid’ here in the poem? Ans.
The poor people’s trusting sorrow remains unsaid.
Q4. What is meant by ‘unsaid’? Ans. It means
unexplained.
Stanza 3:
While
greedy good doers, beneficent beasts of prey,
Swarm over their lives, enforcing
benefits
That are calculated to soothe them out
of their wits…
Q1. Who are the greedy good doers?
Ans. The
people from business class and politicians are called the greedy good doers.
Q2. Why have they been called
‘greedy good doers’?
Ans. They
are called so because they are making money out of their goodness shown to
them.
Q3. What poetical device has been
used in the phrase ‘‘greedy good doers’?
Ans.
Paradox has been used here.
Q4. What does ‘beneficent beast of
prey’ symbolise?
Ans.It
also stands for the social workers and
the politicians who pretend to help the
poor. But they make money by doing acts of charity and social work.
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