ANALYSIS OF A ROADSIDE STAND BY ROBERT FROST

Solution
Rhyme Scheme: The poem has not been written in free verse but the rhyme scheme is inconsistent
throughout the poem. 

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.

Explanation 
The poet starts the poem by telling us about a new shed in the countryside that probably a peasant has set up
in front of his old house at the edge of the road. He wants people to buy his goods not because the money will
help him to make a living but because it will act as an additional income. The shed itself is pleading people to
come and have a look at it. In the last two lines, the poet says that he also needs the money of the city people
that helps the urban people to make their life luxurious as they are deprived of even basic rights. 

Poetic Devices
i. Personification - The poet has personified the stand by using the word plead for it - A roadside stand that too
pathetically pled. 
ii. Assonance - 1. Prominent sound of the vowel o in - But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow
supports.
2. Prominent sound of the vowel 'i' in - "The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint."
iii. Alliteration - It is the repetition of a letter at the start of closely placed words. The repetition of the letter - 'p'
in "pathetically pled." 

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 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,

Poetic Devices
i. Transferred Epithet - The poet has used polished traffic to refer to the rich city dwellers. 
ii. Repetition - The word wrong has been repeated. 
iii. Anaphora - It is the repetition of a word at the start of two or more consecutive lines -
(Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,
Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene,).
Explanation 
In the second stanza, the poet is describing the city people, whose minds are always filled with various
thoughts related to their occupation. If, by any chance, their minds are free from occupational thoughts then
they start judging and thinking ill about the things (such as various sign boards or small old shops like the
peasants) in their surroundings that are intervening with the beauty of the place. In the last three lines, the
poet talks about the things that the peasant was selling. He was selling berries and golden squash that is
pumpkin, etc. 

Stanza 3
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.

Explanation 
In this stanza, we get to know about the expectations of the peasant. He wants the money of the city-dwellers
but they only give him false hopes. He doesn't feel bad when the city people complain about the intervention
to the beauty of the place, he feels bad when he trusts them and they do not buy anything from him. He then
says that he also wants to live a luxurious life like he sees in movies and he can live only if city-dwellers spend
money on his goods. The poet has also used a political satire in this stanza that says, the peasant wants to
fulfill all the promises by himself that the political party which is in power could not fulfill.

Poetic Devices
i. Repetition - The words "money" and "city" have been repeated. 
ii. Assonance - Prominent sound of the vowel 'i' - "And give us the life of the moving-pictures promise."

Stanza 4
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 wont 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 
 The poet says that these days it's in the news that many good doers such as brokers are promising the
peasants various benefits if they agree to relocate leaving their village or countryside. They tell them they will
relocate them to the best locations where they can have easy access to all the facilities such as the theatre
and the stores. The peasants end up becoming a prey to them and only the greedy brokers end up benefited.
The innocent village peasants are only misguided and manipulated. The city people also change their habits
by teaching them how to sleep all day while the village people used to work hard all day and sleep at night.

Poetic Devices
i. Alliteration - It is the repetition of a letter at the start of closely placed words. The repetition of the letter -
1. G in greedy good. 
2. B in beneficent beasts.
3. B in be bought. 
ii. Oxymoron - There is use of two words with opposite meanings  together - greedy good-doers. 
iii. Repetition - The word sleep has been repeated. 

Stanza 5
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 farmers 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;

Explanation 
In this stanza, the poet tells us about the pity conditions of the peasants. He says they wait and pray the
whole day for a customer just like a child. They become happy when they see an approaching car but the
passenger either stops the car to take a U-turn or to ask for directions from the peasant and that just makes
the peasant feel that the city people are selfish. These incidents become unbearable for him. He will be happy
even if they just enquire about the prices from him but they don't even bother to do so. 

Poetic Devices
i. Transferred Epithet - Here the poet has used selfish cars to call the city-dwellers selfish. 
ii. Personification - The poet has personified sadness by using the phrase sadness that lurks near the open
window there.
iii. Repetition - The word car has been repeated. 

Stanza 6
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 
The anger of the peasant has been shown in this stanza. He longs for a customer the whole day and finally,
when a car comes, the driver asks if the peasant has a gallon of gas, to which he asked in anger saying if he
couldn't see that the peasant is selling products not gas. 

Poetic Devices
i. Alliteration -  It is the repetition of a letter at the start of closely placed words. The repetition of the letter g in
gallon of gas. 

Stanza 7
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 cant 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 to sane,
I wonder how I should like you to come to me
And offer to put me gently out of my pain.

Explanation 
The poet empathizes with the peasants and expresses his grief. He says he feels as if there is a difference
between the countryside money and the city money and also between the countryside grain and city grain as
countryside grain cannot buy happiness. He wishes to uplift the lives of peasants and remove all their pains at
one stroke. But then he puts himself into the farmer's shoes and thinks if he would accept immediate help
from others if they offered. He ends by saying that he doesn't think the peasants too would accept immediate
help from him. 

Poetic Devices
i. Personification - The poet has personified the country by using the phrase - the voice of the country. 
ii. Repetition - The words "country" and "pain" have been repeated.

A Roadside Stand Word Meanings