25KM

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About the poet
Robert Frost (1874-1963) is a highly acclaimed
American poet of the twentieth century. Robert Frost
wrote about characters, people and landscapes. His
Sped - crossed at high poems are concerned with human tragedies and fears,
speed his reaction to the complexities of life and his ultimate
Pathetically - In a way acceptance of his burdens. Stopping by the Woods on a
that arouses pity Snowy Evening, Birches, Mending walls are a few of
Pled - pleaded,requested his well-known poems. In the poem A Roadside Stand,
Dole of Bread - Frost presents the lives of poor deprived people
donations with pitiless clarity and with the deepest sympathy
Marred - Spoiled and humanity.

Before you read

Sinking - drowning The little old house was out with a little new shed
withering - decay, In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped,
getting bad A roadside stand that too pathetically pled,
It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread,
Polished - respectful,
refined
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports
Out of sorts - irritated, The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.
complaining, The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead, faint - lifeless
bad-tempered or Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts
unhappy At having the landscape marred with the artless paint
Quarts - container 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, Mean - selfish
Squash - a fruit You have the money, but if you want to be mean, Hurt - insult
Warts - A small growth Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along.
on the outer surface The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint

Crossly - In an annoyed
100/Flamingo
or angry way
‘The flower of the cities’ - refers to the rich and wealthy city-dwellers who can afford the best things.
Mind ahead - mind is focussed only on their destination
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 So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid:
Trusting - Here far from the city we make our roadside stand
Believing
Expand - Grow, And ask for some city money to feel in hand
Beneficent -
Become rich To try if it will not make our being expand,
Charitable, Helping
Pitiful - Showing And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise
pity That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.Beasts of prey -
Kin - Family an animal,
members
It is in the news that all these pitiful kin especially a
Gas - Fuel Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in mammal, that kills
To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store, and eats other
Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore,animals.
While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey, Bear - Tolerate
Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits Longing - Desire,
That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits, Wish
And by teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day, In vain - Not
Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way. successful
Lurks - lie in wait,
Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear to exist
The thought of so much childish longing in vain, unobserved
The sadness that lurks near the open window there, Squeal - A sharp
That waits all day in almost open prayer sound
For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car, Plow up -
damage a road
Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass, or pathway
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.

quarts : bottles or containers

A Roadside Stand/101

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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 to complain. Which lines bring this out? What
was their complaint about?
2. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
3. 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.
4. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it
‘vain’?
5. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet
feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?

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Discuss in small groups.
The economic well-being of a country depends on a balanced
development of the villages and the cities.

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You could stop at a dhaba or a roadside eatery on the outskirts of
your town or city to see
1. how many travellers stop there to eat?
2. how many travellers stop for other reasons?
3. how the shopkeepers are treated?
4. the kind of business the shopkeepers do.
5. the kind of life they lead.

Notice the rhyme scheme. Is it consistent or is there an

102/Flamingo

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