Mission 100

According to Latest CBSE Board Syllabus

Poem – 5 | Flamingo

A
Roadside
Stand
 Poem – 5 | Flamingo

A Roadside Stand
Robert Frost 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.
Theme :

The poem, ‘The Roadside Stand’ is

Robert Frost’s criticism of an
unequal society where there is a
huge division between the rich and
the poor, the haves and the have-
nots, owing to the unequal
distribution of wealth. The poem
depicts, with clarity, the plight of
the poor and the complex dynamics
of their existence. It also focuses
on the unfortunate fact that the
unequal progress and development
between cities and villages have led
to the feelings of distress and
unhappiness in the rural people.
Poem Analysis : A Roadside Stand

Form (structure or pattern) of the

poem – The poem has 56 lines
divided in 6 Stanzas.

Style (literary elements used by the

poet) of the poem – The poem is
written in a rhyme scheme of ABAB.

Tone (the poet’s or reader’s

attitude towards the subject) of the
poem – The poem has a
sympathetic tone.
First stanza
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 poem starts with the
description of the roadside stand.

A small-time farmer who puts a

little shed in part of his house
several thousands of cars speed
past it.

He desires to sell wild berries,

squash and other products. The
farmer does not like charity.

He tries to sell his products for

money. He believes that money
can give him a better lifestyle as
he saw in movies.
Second stanza

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,
However, his hopes are
never fulfilled.

People in cars go past

without even giving a
cursory look at their stall
and if few of them happened
to look at it, they see how
the letters N and S had been
turned wrong.

They believe that such badly

painted signs spoil the
beauty of the countryside.
Third stanza

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.
The farmer tells the rich to
keep their money if they are
meant to be so cruel and mean.

He is not hurt that they do not

notice the stand but he is hurt
at the way he is treated and
ignored.

He wishes for some city life and

money which he has seen in
movies and other media but the
political parties are denying him
all these plush lives.
Fourth stanza

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.
It is known that some good doers
plan to remove their poverty. They
aimed to buy their property on the
roadside to build theatres and
stores. Good-doers plan to shift
the villagers into the village
huddled together.

They wished to teach them the

ways that could change their good
and healthy habits. They even
aimed to teach them to sleep
during the day time.

The greedy good doers and

beneficent beasts of prey desire
to force the benefits on the poor
village people and befool them.
Fifth stanza

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?
Frost talks about his own
personal feelings. He is
intolerable towards the
farmer’s battered hopes.

The windows of the farmer’s

house just ache to hear the
sound of a car stopping to
make some purchase.

However, they are always

disappointed as the cars stop
either to enquire about the
police or about the gas
stations.
Sixth stanza

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.
The poet feels quite discreet
at the pitiable sufferings of
the poor village folk.

He even had a childish

desire for all the poor to be
done away with at one
stroke to end their pain.

But he knew that it was

childish and vain. So, he
desired that someone
relieves him of his pain by
killing him.
Poetic Devices
Metaphor – A figure of speech that directly refers to one thing by
mentioning another. From the poem:
“Trusting Sorrow”

Alliteration – The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of

adjacent or closely connected words. From the poem:
“Greedy good doers”
“Beneficent Beasts”

Personification – A literary tool where you assign the qualities of a person

to something that isn’t human. From the poem:
“A roadside stand that too pathetically piled”

Oxymoron – A figure of speech containing words that seem to contradict

each other. From the poem:
“Greedy good doers”
“Beneficent Beasts”
APpedia
Practice Question
Q. 1. Why didn’t the ‘polished traffic’ stop at the
roadside stand?

A) The ‘polished traffic’ sped past the roadside stand

and did not stop there as their mind is focused only on
their destination. Moreover, they were critical of the
poor decor of the stand and complaint that it reduced
the beauty of countryside.
Q. 2. What news in the poem ‘A Roadside
Stand’ is making its round in the village?

A) The news is about the resettlement of the

rural people who will be resettled in the
villages, next to the theaters and the stores.
They would be close to the cities and would
not have to worry about themselves any more.
But it was all an activity of “greedy good-
doers”.
Q. 3. Why do people at the roadside
stand ask for city money?

A) They ask for city money so that they

can lead a life of happiness as the rural
people running the roadside stand are
poor and deprived, unlike the people of
the city. This much-needed city money
can give them a good livelihood.
MCQs

22/8
1. What does the speaker or narrator
call the thought of the owner of the
stand?

(a) A chid like longing

(b) a very good thought
(c) a wise thought
(d) A childish longing in vain
2. What would be the state of poor rural
folk at new location ?

(a) tension free as their needs will be looked after

(b) they will be able to visit city malls
(c) they will enjoy travelling malls and cinema
halls
(d) they will be happy