A Roadside Stand By Robert Frost

A Roadside Stand

By Robert Frost

About the Poet

Robert Frost was an American poet. He was honored frequently during his lifetime and is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He was born on 26 March 1874, San Francisco, California, the United States to journalist William Prescott Frost. His mother was a Scottish immigrant. Frost’s father was a teacher and later an editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. After his death on May 5, 1885, the family moved across the country to Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Frost graduated from Lawrence High School in 1892. In 1894, he sold his first poem, “My Butterfly” for $15 ($434 today). Proud of his accomplishment, he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, but she demurred and asked him to finish his college. Frost attended Harvard University from 1897 to 1899, but he left voluntarily due to illness. Frost then went on an excursion to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and asked Elinor again upon his return. Having graduated, she agreed, and they were married at Lawrence, Massachusetts on December 19, 1895.

In 1912, Frost sailed with his family to Great Britain, settling first in Beaconsfield, a small town outside London. He met or befriended many contemporary poets in England, especially after his first two poetry volumes were published in London in 1913.

In 1915, during World War – I, Frost returned to America and bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, the USA where he launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing. Frost taught English at Amherst College in Massachusetts, notably encouraging his students to account for the myriad sounds and intonations of the spoken English language in their writing.

Robert Frost’s personal life was plagued by grief and loss. In 1885 when he was 11, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving the family with just eight dollars. Frost’s mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, he had to commit his younger sister Jeanie to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost’s family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost’s wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.

Elinor and Robert Frost had six children. Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost’s wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937 and died of heart failure in 1938. Frost died in Boston on January 29, 1963, of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Poem: A Roadside Stand

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

And ask for some city money to feel in the hand

To try if it will not make our expanding,

And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise

That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.

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 is 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.

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?

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 the 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.

Introduction

The poet contrasts the lives of the people who live in cities and those who live in the country. He highlights the plight of the deprived villagers who are aching for some money to lead a prosperous life. The life of the poor people is very miserable because they are in the paucity of money. It is only the money that can lift their living standard but they don’t have any. The poet wishes to relieve the rural people of the pain at one stroke.

Summary

Robert Frost presents the apathy of the city dwellers & rich persons towards the poor farmers who have constructed a roadside stand to sell their products and earn a living but they pass speedily in their cars and do not even bother to stop for a while and take a look at it. The farmers discover that nobody is interested in their products and never even stops to inquire about the prices. The villagers hope for a life of comfort like urban people by earning some money. The news of their settlement near the theatre of the store is also under discussion among them. The greedy good-doers solace them for restful sleep and livelihood but literally, they are cheating and want to grasp their farms and lands. The poor farmers sit the whole day praying but all in vain. Sometimes, rarely, a car stops but for its own selfishness. They stop either to seek some fuel or ask the destination of the path. The poet is disturbed seeing the pitiful and misfortunate life of the villagers and anticipate some real consolation and concern for those ill-fated hard workers.

Apathy = lack of interest/feeling/emotion/concern

Detailed Explanation

Poor villagers have made little new huts out of the houses on the roadside. Traffic passes from that road speedily. Those little temporary huts do not ask for any donation but pray for some attention. They expect to earn some money by selling wild berries and golden squash. The money helps cities to develop. Vehicles pass without paying any attention. Even if someone looks at them, they find signs and symbols totally unshaped and unartistic. The travelers pass without buying anything. The poet is not angry or disappointed by the ignorance of scenery but disheartened because of empty hands. They have opened those roadside stands for not only their earnings but to facilitate the city dwellers with fresh and genuine objects. They also want to increase the standard of their living and follow their ideas as they are promised to be in comfort by the leaders and eminent persons.

There is the news that those poor farmers would be settled in the villages near the theatre and store where they will be looked after properly and will have nothing to worry about. The poet advocates that those greedy good-doers are cheating the innocent farmers and planning to capture their farms and lands deceitfully.

The poet often thinks about the miserable condition of these poor people and is unable to sustain the useless expectation that is never going to be fulfilled. Every hope remains pending because nobody cares for them. From morning to evening, the poor farmer waits and prays to God for some real customers to buy their products. They want to listen to the sharp sound of brakes but no one stops there to buy their products. Even if anyone stops, he stops not to inquire about the prices but to use that empty and broad space for backing and turning the vehicle or enquiring about the route’s rightness or the availability of the fuel. The anger of farmers is natural as they are only used for the selfishness. They reply irritatingly and question the common sense of the car owners.

The life of the poor people is very miserable because they are in the paucity of money. It is only the money that can lift their living standard but they don’t have any. This is why the spirit of poor people remains depressed. The poet wishes to relieve the rural people of the pain at one stroke.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why was the ‘little old house’ extended towards the road?
Ans. The little old house was extended on the roadside to attract the rich men passing in their cars and make a living by selling their products to them.

Q2. Which traffic is referred to here? Why are they ‘speeding?’

Ans. The traffic is referred to the cars and other vehicles of the rich people. These rich people are in a great hurry to make money in other cities.

Q3. Why is the Stand’s existence said to be ‘pathetic?’

Ans. The roadside stands expect to get some city-money into their hands by selling their products. But their expectations are never fulfilled as the rich people are not considerate about them and don’t stop there to buy their products.

Q4. Why is it unfair to say that these people are begging for a ‘dole of bread?’

Ans. These poor people are not beggars. They are not asking for any donations. They have made roadside stands only to sell their items and make a living.

Q5. What do poor people really expect from the rich?

Ans. The poor people expect a small share of the money from rich people.

Q6. How do the poor people look at the city money?

Ans. For poor people, money is very essential for growth and survival. It boosts the growth of the city and the city people.

Q7. What is the flower of the cities? How?

Ans. Prosperity is the flower of the cities. As the flower is the crowning glory of a plant, growth, and prosperity become the flower of a city. But the city people are quite insensitive to the poor sufferers and pass by their stands in their cars. They are not bothered at all to have a look at them.

Q8. What do you mean by ‘polished traffic?
Ans. Polished traffic portrays the insensitive attitude of the city-men for the poor farmers. They appear to be ‘polished’ from outside but their minds do not understand the sufferings of the poor people.

Q9. What attitude does the polished traffic show?
Ans. The polished traffic passes with a mind ahead and does not pay a little bit of attention to the roadside stands.

Q10. Explain, ‘passed with a mind ahead.’

Ans. The city people who pass by the roadside stand are selfish and self-centered. Their minds are restless with greed for money and ambitions for great profits in their business.

Q11. What are the usual complaints made by the city men when they stop at the roadside stand? 

(OR)

How senseless do the rich men’s complaints sound to the poor people?

Ans. The rich men’s complaints sound to be senseless as they say that they have distorted the beauty of the landscape by putting up their stalls on the roadside and painting their houses in the most awkward way. They have also erected boards near their stands with wrong signs of S and N.

Q12. How do poor people ruin the landscape?

Ans. The poor people ruin the beauty of the landscape by putting up their stands/stalls on the roadside. Their houses are painted in the most unprofessional manner with the most mismatching paint.

Q13. What articles are ‘offered for sale’ at the stand?

Ans. Wild berries, crook-necked golden squash, and paintings of mountain scenery are offered for sale at the roadside stand.

Q14. What do the poor people of the roadside stand feel when the city people decline from buying anything?

Ans. When rich people decline to buy their products from the roadside stand, they feel dejected and angry. They ask the city people to keep their money with them and make their own way.

Q15. What do you understand when the poet says that the trusting sorrow of the poor people is ‘unsaid?’

Ans. The poor people place their trust in the fake promises of the rich people and the ruling parties and consequently become sad. The poet complains that this sorrow of the poor people has not been brought to the serious concern of the concerned authorities, media and the public.

Q16. What do the people at the roadside stand expect from the rich? What for?

Ans. The poor people at the roadside stand expect the generosity of the rich city people. They hope to alleviate their poverty by getting money from the city people.

Q17. What are the moving pictures? What kind of life is promised by the ‘moving pictures?Ans. The movies the poor people have watched are full of promises for them. In those movies, they saw people who journeyed from poverty to prosperity.

Q18. What do ‘the parties in power’ keep from the poor people?

Ans. The governments and corrupt politicians keep the shares and the allotted rights of the poor people away from them and use them for their selfish motives.

Q19. What is good news for poor people?

Ans. The media keep on advertising that the governments are planning schemes for the welfare of poor people.

Q20. Who are the greedy good doers? What is the irony in the ‘greedy good-doers?’

Ans. The leaders of political parties and businessmen are the greedy good-doers mentioned here. A greedy person cannot be a good doer. These good-doers intend to make money out of the poor people by appearing beneficent to them.

Q21. How do the rich ‘enforce benefits’ on the poor?

Ans. The rich businessmen convince the poor of the advantages of their new schemes and promotions and make them buy their products and be their customers.

Q22. What sort of calculation is made to ‘soothe the wits of the poor?’ Does this calculation work? How?

Ans. The business-minded city people attract poor people with their well-planned promotional offers and promises. These promises and offers are in such a way calculated that the poor people cannot escape the traps of the rich. The business man’s calculations work well as there is a more efficient brain behind all these promises.

Q23. How do the influential rich destroy the sleep of the poor? How is this done in ancient times?
Ans. The influential rich people give the poor great promises and exploit them for their personal gains. This destroys the sleep of poor people. This method of the rich and mighty is as old as the human civilizations.

Q24. What is the childish longing? Why is it in vain?
Ans. Children long to achieve things beyond their reach but never get them. The poor people’s expectation that the rich people would give them money is their childish longing. It is in vain because the hard-hearted rich people never give them a penny.

Q25. Why can’t the poet bear the childish longing of the poor people?

Ans. The poet is a true humanitarian who is genuinely concerned about the poor people’s misfortunes. He wants a solution to their poverty. But seeing how childish their longings are, the poet feels it is unbearable.

Q26. What is the prayer of the open window?

Ans. The open window prays that the city people would stop on their stand and buy their products. Thus this generous amount can alleviate the distress of the poor people.

Q27. Why are cars called ‘selfish cars?

Ans. The cars are selfish because the people who travel in them are selfish and self-centered.

Q28. What do you understand by ‘farmer’s prices’?
Ans. Farmer’s prices refer to the prices of the berries, squash, and paintings displayed at the roadside stand for sale.

Q29. What is the strange demand of the rich man at the roadside stand? How is it quite strange?
Ans. The insensitive city man demands a gallon of gas at the roadside stand. This is quite strange because the city man is not aware of the fact that the poor man cannot provide him with expensive items such as gas.

Q30. Why are the poor people angry with the city men when they ask for gas?

Ans. The roadside stand has the store of wild berries, squash, and paintings that are never bought by the city men. On the contrary, the city men require a gallon of gas and the roadside stand does not have it for sale. This helplessness makes the poor people angry.

Q31. What is the voice of the country?

Ans. The voice of the country is that the rich people have no concern for them and that they are being exploited, cheated and given false promises by the parties in power. There is no end for their miseries.

Q32. What kind of relief does the poet dream for poor people?

Ans. The poet dreams of some magical help for the poor people, so that the poor people will be redeemed from their state of poverty and misery instantly.

Q33. Why does the poet seek an unrealistic solution for the poor people’s distress even though he himself blamed them earlier for their ‘childish longing in vain?’
Ans. The poet, unlike the greedy good-doers, genuinely wishes to get the poor people out of their pain, poverty and endless miseries but he is sad and helpless to see that there is no one to help them come out of their poverty. This helplessness drives the poet to seek an unrealistic solution for poor people’s misery.

Q34. What is the poet’s pain?

Ans. The poet’s pain is that poor people are still waiting for rich people’s generosity and that rich people never help poor people. He is also said that his insane dreams of the poor people helped by a stroke were only dreams.

Q35. How does the poet feel helpless?
Ans. The poet finally concludes that he is totally helpless to remove the pain of the farmers. He can’t put those people out of their pain at one stroke.

Q36. How can his readers remove the poet’s pain?
Ans. The readers can get the poet out of his pain by offering to help the poor people.

Q. Name the figures of speech used in the poem.

Ans. (a) Transferred Epithet: There are two examples of the transferred epithet in the poem:

• ‘Polished traffic’ is referred to the city dwellers who pass by the roadside stand.
• ‘Selfish cars’ is yet another use of a transferred epithet. This refers to the car owners who stop at the roadside stand not to buy their products but to ask about the path or the fuel.

(b) Personification: “the sadness that lurks behind the open window there…” Sadness is an example of personification. Sadness dwells in the windows of the farmers because they wait for cars to stop and buy their articles.

(c) Alliteration and Oxymoron: ‘Greedy good doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’ are examples of both alliteration and oxymoron.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. Summarise the poem in your own words.

Ans. Robert Frost experiences the pain of the poor farmers who have made their little shaded stalls on the roadside to sell their products but the poet observes that the city people are not at all interested in their offerings. On the other hand, selfish travelers criticize their presentations and pass thoroughly without having a look at them. Poet is hurt by their behavior and attitude and has a complaint about their survival as they too want to be part of the flow of the economy. They too have the right to live comfortably like their ideals. But they are always used for the self-motives of the greedy good-doers. They enforce their benefits over the poor farmers, misguide them and destroy their ancient culture and way of living by lulling them. They just want to grasp their fields and houses. Poet is tired and finds his expectations failed. He is too much disappointed by the financial condition and struggle of the distressed peasants who for the whole day sit, pray and wait for the cars to stop at least to inquire or to buy their products but the self-centered egoistic persons use the empty place to turn their vehicles or sometimes stop to ask about the fuel or the route’s destination. The anger of farmers is natural, they reply and ask irritatingly for the common sense of the proud persons. Poet realizes that no miracle can be seen and he is unable to console the poverty-stricken farmers and it’s impossible to extricate the villagers out of their pain at one stroke. He realizes when finds himself sensible that his call is futile to help them and no one is ready to help them.

Q2. Have you ever stopped at a roadside stand? What have you observed?

Ans. Yes, I’ve stopped at a roadside stand on a highway twice or thrice and found that the villagers have too many expectations from us, who pass from those roads. They work hard for the whole day and their family members sit there to sell fresh vegetables, fruits, juices and, other products. Very few of us actually purchase something but only use them for general queries like asking about road maps or petrol for our vehicles or many times to use that broad empty space to turn our vehicles. I also observed that those farmers are pitiful and facing very miserable conditions and fighting for their existence and survival. Those merciful poor farmers should be helped and treated like human beings. They should not be cheated and used for introversion purposes. They also contribute to the growth and economy of the country as they grow crops for the whole of mankind.