CBSE Class 12 English A Roadside Stand Notes Set 01

About the poet
Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime. He had received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

“A Road Not Taken”, “Mending Wall”, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Birches” are some of his most famous poems.

Theme
The poem ‘A Roadside Stand’ revolves around the lives of low-income individuals. Besides, the writer differentiates the battling lives of the field individuals with the inhumane existence of the city tenants. The city inhabitants don’t try to contemplate on the brutal state of the roadside. The city occupants don’t consider the battles of the roadside stand individuals need to experience to sell their treats.
These needy individuals have nothing to do except believing that the passing vehicles will stop and buy their items. If at all, a vehicle stops by, it is to think about bearings or to gripe about something. The artist profoundly identifies with these devastated individuals and feels empathy for them. This compassion is evident in the depiction of the roadside stand in a powerful way.

Form
In the poem, Robert Frost has used the personal pronoun in the first person which refers to the country people in the first stanza and to the poet in the third and fifth stanza. Robert Frost in his typical style takes opposite sides in the same poem to create a dramatic effect.
This also gives a sense of involvement to the reader.

Message
The poem describes a stand that a farmer has put up outside his house along a highway hoping that the passing cars would buy his goodies. Unfortunately, no passers-by stop their cars and buy his goodies. Moreover, even if someone stares at the direction of the stand he only criticizes the badly painted North-South signs. Even the benefactors make the villagers completely dependent on them thus robbing them of their ability to think for themselves to be independent. The poet is outraged at the callous attitude of the government, the civic authorities and the social service agencies that appear to help them but actually end up harming them.

Summary
The poet says that a farmer in the countryside had erected a sundown shed, at the edge of the highway, to sell wares, to the traffic, speeding past. The farmer was not begging, but seeking some financial help from his city brethren. The city folk helped in the maintenance of the city parks and gardens and the farmer felt that, they could help the country people also, by at least buying their products. However, the fast moving traffic just sped past, intent on reaching their destination without even giving a cursory glance to the shed. If anyone halted it was only to comment on how the beauty of the mountains, a place for rest and calm had been marred by the wrongly directing sign boards, wild berries in their wooden containers and the silver marked vegetables, on sale.
Disappointed and dejected the farmer tells the rich city dwellers that they can keep their money, and not criticize the efforts of the country people who had trusted their city brethren to help them, but who had instead breached their faith by their indifference. The farmer further says that they wish for some monetary assistance only to experience the plush life revealed in movies, and which the politicians had deprived them of.The poet also says that it had been in the news that these poor countryside people were to be relocated to villages where they could have an easy access to the film theatre and provision store, which would make their lives comfortable. The poor country people would be taken care of as all these greedy politicians and similar parasites would feast on their poverty and provide so many benefits. These would instead numb their (countryside people) thoughts and they wouldn’t be able to think straight. By making these poor countryside people so comfortable, these greedy lot would manage to disturb their sleep pattern and their ability to think rationally.

Frost then speaks about his personal feelings that he could not bear to see this childlike longing among the country people who waited sadly behind open windows, praying for someone to stop by and for once enquire about the farmers’ wares. However, most of the cars pass by and even if one did stop it was to reverse and throw up the grass, another would stop to ask the direction, while another would halt to enquire about the availability of petrol, showing their complete lack of insensitivity. They did not realise that the shed sold only wares and not petrol.
Ticking off the country people, the poet says that the countryside, which can gain only through farming, the desired spirit for improvement is missing. This is seen by the rundown and neglected condition of the countryside.
Finally the poet says that it would be such a relief to help these country people and remove their pain and grief. However, when he thinks rationally, he wonders how he would feel, if some one did come to him, and offered him his service, i.e., to remove his pain.

Justification of the Title
The title is apt as the poem is about a roadside stand put up by the poor country folk. The poem portrays the plight of the people who have painted a new shed to sell the produce. The city is the source of financial stability, and the country is largely dependent on the city folk to survive and they do so by putting up the
roadside stand.

Poetic Devices
1. Symbols
- cars and traffic symbolise human beings
- It also symbolises human beings (in stanza one it stands for country people. In stanza three and five, it stands for the poet)
2. Transferred Epithet
- polished traffic
- selfish cars
3. Personification
- A roadside stand that too pathetically pled
4. Metaphor
- trusting sorrow
5. Oxymoron
- greedy good-doers and beneficent beasts of prey.
6. Alliteration
- gallon of gas
- greedy good-doers
- beneficent beasts

POEM IN A NUTSHELL

Reason country folk put up the stand The rural folks’ earnest desire was to rise above their wretchedness by putting up a roadside stand selling farm produce-Wild berries in wooden quarts and crook necked golden squash with silver warts. Government’s attitude towards the rural areas They have been provided with a theater and a store, which is merely an illusion. It is ironical, that though it was meant to benefit them. It was a distraction, which removed them briefly from the reality. Reaction of the passers by

One stop but only to back and turn around and another to ask directions, while a third stop to ask for gas.
Poet’s plea for help
Finally, the poet pleads for the cause of these people.No amount of prosperity, can uplift the people, while the rural masses live a subnormal existence.