NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Flamingo English A Road Side Stand

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        Poem = A Road Side Stand

Ques. 1: What was the plea of the folk who had put up road side stand?

Ans:     The plea of the folk who had put up the road side stand was for some money which could improve their lot. They wanted to cash to keep their business going. Due to lack of money their spirits always remain depressed. So they wanted cash to make their lives prosperous.

Ques. 2: What is the ‘Children longing’ that the poet refers to? Why it is ‘vain’?

Ans:     The childhood longing is a deep immature desire for something. The rural people wait for their customers. They keep their windows open. They keep waiting. They try to listen to the squeal of brakes and sound of stopping car.

Ques. 3: How and why was the roadside stand built?

Ans:     The roadside stand was built by extending a small old house with a little new shed. It is on a busy root. The people who ran it expected the city people and earn some money.

Ques. 4: Explain ‘The hurt of the scenery wouldn’t my complaint’.

Ans:     It means that the poet will not feel hurt by the clumsy point of the roadside stand. He is hurt by the suffering of the rural people.

IMPORTANT STANZAS FOR COMPREHENSION

Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:

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.

1. Where was the new shed put up? What was its purpose?
2. Why does the poet use the word ‘pathetic’?
3. Explain: ‘too pathetically pled’
4. Who are referred to as ‘the flower of cities’?

Answer:

1. A little house at one side of the road was extended and a shed was added to it to put up a road stand. It was set up to attract passersby to buy things from them so that they could earn some money.

2. By using the word ‘pathetic’ the poet emphasizes on the fact that the condition of the shed was most humble and that it presented a rather pitiable sight.
3. It was as if by putting up the shed the owner was desperately pleading to the rich city folks to stop by at his roadside stand and buy things from there so that they could earn some extra money.
4. ‘The flower of the cities’ here refers to the rich and wealthy city-dwellers who can afford the best things.

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,

1. What does the poet mean by ‘with a mind ahead?
2. What are N and S signs?
3. Why have these sings turned wrong? 

Answer:
1. The phrase ‘with a mind ahead’ suggests that the people who pass the roadside stand in their polished cars conveniently overlook the roadside stand as their mind is focused only on their destination.
2. The N and S signs stand for the North and the South direction.
3. These signs have turned wrong because they have been painted in the wrong way and so these signboards are wrongly presented.

3. 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

1. What attraction does the place offer?
2. What should one do if one wants to be mean?
3. What does the poet not complain about?
4. What do you think is the real worry of the poet? 

Answer:
1. The place offers a scenic view of the beautiful mountains.
2. If one wants to be mean he can keep his money and move on ahead.
3. The poet does not complain about the landscape which has been spoil because of the artless painting done on the building.
4. The poet’s real worry is the unexpressed sorrow of the people who have put up the roadside stand.

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 theater and the store,
Where they won’t have to think for themselves
anymore,
While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey,

1. Name the poem and the poet.
2. Explain why merciful have been called ‘greedy good-doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’?
3. Why won’t these poor people have to think for themselves any more?

Answer:
1. The poem is ‘A Roadside Stand’ by Robert Frost.
2. The merciful are the crooked politicians, greedy people pretending to be good, who only pose as beneficiaries. These powerful men are actually beasts of prey in the guise of beneficiaries who ruthlessly exploit the common people.
3. These poor people are now in the hands of the so-called ‘merciful beneficiaries’, who will actually do them more harm than any good, so they will not have to think about themselves any more.

5. Sometimes 1 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.

1. What cannot be borne by the poet and why?
2. What is the ‘childish longing'?
3. Why the longing has been termed as ‘vain’?
4. Why do the people driving in the cars stop sometimes?

Answer:
1. The poet cannot bear the thought of how these country folks are lured with false promises which are never going to be fulfilled because he feels genuinely sad about so much deprivation to these innocent people.
2. Like children, these country folk have many unfulfilled wishes and desires. So they keep their windows open expecting some prospective customers to turn up so that some good fortune can fall into their share.
3. The longing has been termed as ‘vain’ because it will never be fulfilled.
4. The people driving in the car stop sometimes either to just inquire about the way to their destination or to ask for a gallon of gas if they ran short of it.

6. 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,

1. Why is the longing called childish?
2. Where is the window?
3. Why does sadness lurk there? 

Answer:
1. Like children, these rural folk nurture many unfulfilled dreams and desires which might never be satisfied. They crave in vain like children waiting for their wishes to be fulfilled.
2. The window is a part of their roadside stand where they wait expectantly.
3. Sadness lurks there because no car halts there to buy anything from their roadside stand and the rural folk are unable to earn some extra money.

7. 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 a farmer’s prices are.

1. Which open window is referred to? Why does sadness lurk there?
2. What does the farmer pray for?
3. Is the farmer’s prayer ever granted? How do you know? 

Answer:
1. The open window is that of the roadside stand where they wait expectantly for a car to stop by. Sadness lurks there because no city dweller halts there and thus the hopes of the country folk are belied as no customer stops there.
2. The farmer prays that the city folks apply the brakes of the car and halt at their roadside stand to buy something from there.
3. The farmers’ prayers are not granted. The poet tells us that even if city folk do stop at the roadside stand it is only to inquire about the prices of the goods.