Flamingo - Poem 5 A Roadside Stand - Robert Frost The poem, Glossary, Summary, Questions and Answers - The Poem - The little old house was...
Flamingo - Poem 5
A Roadside Stand - Robert Frost
The poem, Glossary, Summary, Questions and Answers -
The Poem -
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-nacked 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 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.
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.
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 if 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.
Glossary -
1. sped - moved fast
2. pathetically - pitifully
3. pled - appealed
4. dole - charity
5. withering - fading, to fade
6. sorts - a type or kind
7. marred - spoiled
8. quarts - a measure of liquid
9. squash - drink, crush, a kind of vegetable (gourd)
10. warts - sweet small balls
11. crossly - angrily
12. kin - community
13. swarm - a group of insects
14. soothe - to comfort somebody
15. vain - useless
16. lurks - lies hidden
17. squeal - to make a loud sound
18. plow - plough, a large farm tool
19. sane - in senses
Summary -
The poem," A Roadside Stand" is written by a highly acclaimed American poet of the twentieth century, Robert Frost. His poems are concerned with human tragedies, fears and reactions to the complexities of life.
In this poem, he presents the lives of poor deprived people with pitiless clarity, deepest sympathy, and humanity and shows he has picturized a roadside stand raised by a poor farmer hoping that some city car would stop at his stand, and buy some wild berries or squash, and in turn, he will get some cash for his livelihood. But unfortunately, none of the cars stops at his stand, rather city people complain that these roadside stands are destroying the scenic beauty of the landscape, and if someone stops either he will enquire about the availability of a U-turn or gas.
In the poem, the poet feels intense sympathy towards the countryside rural people but at the same time he satires on city dwellers and the present government who made huge promises to give a better life to these downtrodden people, but in practice, they do not pay any attention towards their well-being rather just ignore them, also he strongly questions the mentality of city dwellers and urges them to spend something in the countryside area which would help rural people up to some extent, even he wants to remove their plea at one stroke but knows that his desire is going to be vain.
Think it out -
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?
Ans - The lines that have the above meaning are," The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead, or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts at having the landscape marred with artless paint of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong".
Their complaint was that those roadside stands were having very bad and untidy signboards and were responsible to minimize the scenic beauty of the landscape.
2. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
Ans -The poor farmers and people of the countryside had put up the roadside stand so as to attract city people who used to pass on the road and their plea was that these city people should stop for a while at their roadside stands and buy something from their stall so that they can earn some money to survive.
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?
Ans - Yes, it is a very bitter truth that the government and other social agencies do nothing for the sake of rural people, actually they pay no attention to the measurable condition of the poor people and to show their double standard, the poet used, " greedy good-doers", "beneficent beasts of prey", "swarm over their lives", calculated to soothe them out of their wits", and, "teaching them how to sleep, they sleep all day, destroy their sleeping" and these lines are a true reflection of their double standard.
4. What is the "childish longing" that the poet refers to? Why is it, "vain"?
Ans - The poet has a great concern about the pitiful condition of rural people and for him, it becomes very hard to bear. He hopes that farmers keep their windows open, hoping that any passing car would stop at their stand and buy something, even pray for that, but nobody stops, they just ignore these stands, rather they complain that how these roadside stands are spoiling the beauty of the landscape, and if any car stops at the stand, it may be for reasons like query about the road, availability of gas by which farmers are not going to get anything. Therefore he says that it is my childish desire but unfortunately goes in vain or becomes useless.
5. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?
Ans - The concluding lines tell us about what exactly the feelings of the poet and what he wishes for them, "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". In the above lines, it is clear how desperately he wants to remove the plight of the poor at one stroke and by that he himself comes out of his own pain.
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