CBSE Class 12 English A Roadside Stand Worksheet

Main points of the poem
1. In this poem, the poet expresses his pain and anger at the indifference of rich and poor farmers.
2. Some poor farmers put up roadside stands so that they can earn some money from the rich city people who pass their road side stands in their costly cars.
3. The poor owner (farmer) keeps sitting by the open window all day long waiting for a car at least to stop there and buy a few of the things he has for sale.
4. Hardly any car stops there. The car owner gets irritated to see how badly the stand shed has been painted.
5. He feels that the badly painted shed spoils the beauty of the landscape.
6. Although rich man in the car has money in his pocket but he thinks it below his dignity to stop and buy something at such a place.
7. The poet thinks of the politicians who befool the poor with big promises but in real they do nothing. They merely fill their own coffers.
8. The poet feels pained to think how the poor man keeps sitting all day long at his open window and waiting for some car to stop there.
9. If any car stops there, it is not to buy anything. He stops their either to turn back or to ask the way or to ask if car have a gallon of gas there.
10. The poet wants to take the poor man out of their pain and poverty at one stroke. He says that it would be a great relief to him if it happened so.

Stanzas for comprehension

Stanza 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.

Question. What is the name of the poem?
(a) A thing of Beauty
(b) A roadside Stand
(c) Keeping Quiet
(d) My Mother at Sixty-six

Answer : B

Question. Who is the poet of this poem?
(a) Walt Whitman
(b) Stephen Spender
(c) John Keats
(d) Robert Frost

Answer : D

Question. Where was this little old house situated?
(a) on the roadside
(b) in the city
(c) near the river
(d) none of the above

Answer : A

Question. Where is the money flowing?
(a) towards the city
(b) towards the Village
(c) towards the capital
(d) all of the above.

Answer : A

Question. What are flowers compared to?
(a) the beauty of the city
(b) the rich
(c) the poor
(d) all of the above.

Answer : B

Stanza 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

Question. Who is poet of this poem?
(a) Stephen spender
(b) John Keats
(c) Robert Frost
(d) Walt Whitman

Answer : C

Question. Where did the polished traffic pass by?
(a) a roadside stand
(b) a village School
(c) a hospital
(d) a deserted house

Answer : A

Question. How did one who looked ‘aside a moment’ feel?
(a) tense
(b) excited
(c) overjoyed
(d) irritated

Answer : D

Question. What did the ‘artless paint’ do to the landscape?
(a) increased its attraction
(b) spoiled the beauty
(c) made it complicated
(d) added brightness

Answer : B

Question. Find words from the stanza which means the same as.
(a) elegant
(b) feeling Annoyed.

Answer : (i) polished (ii) out of sorts.

Stanza 3
It is 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 in the ancient way.

Question. Who is the poet of this poem?
(a) William Word worth
(b) Robert Frost
(c) Stephen Spender
(d) Walt Whitman

Answer : B

Question. Name the poem, this extract has been taken from.
(a) My Mother at Sixty-six
(b) Keeping Quiet
(c) A Roadside Stand
(d) None of the above

Answer : C

Question. What was in the news?
(a) miserable people will be rehabilitated
(b) miserable people will be ousted
(c ) miserable people will be given compensation
(d) none of the above

Answer : A

Question. What was intention of ‘greedy good- doers’?
(a) to help the poor people
(b) to make fun of them
(c) to exploit the poor people
(d) none of the above

Answer : C

Question. Find the words in the stanza which mean the same as.
(a) greedy people who pretend to do good for the poor
(b) the old style.

Answer : (i) greedy good doers (ii) the ancient way.

Stanza 4
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.

Question. What can the poet not bear?
(a) the rich helping the poor
(b) the poor serving the rich.
(c) the sight of the roadside stand
(d) the poor man waiting all day for some car to stop at his stand.

Answer : D

Question. What does the poor man wait for?
(a) for some car to stop at his stand
(b) for help of govt.
(c) both (a) & (b)
(d) none of the above

Answer : A

Question. What do these lines show about the rich city people?
(a) they are indifferent to the fate of the poor
(b) they are heartless people
(c) they are self centred
(d) all of the above

Answer : D

Question. What is meant by ‘Childish longing’ in this extract?
(a) the longing of a child to have some toy
(b) the waiting of the poor peasant for some car to stop at his stand
(c) the sadness of the face of the poor peasant
(d) the sadness and the face of poor peasant’s wife

Answer : B

Question. Find words from the stanza which mean the same as.
(a) keeps waiting silently
(b) long high pitched sound.

Answer : (i) lurks (ii) squeal

Questions Based On Extracts:

1. Offered for sale are wild berries in wooden quarts
Or crook necked golden squash with silver warts,
Or beauty rest in a mountain scene…

Question. What does, ‘beauty rest in a mountain scene’ mean?.
Answer: Beauty resting in a mountain scene is probably a scenic painting made by the inhabitants of the roadside stand meant for selling to the rich people

Question. How does’ crook necked ‘and’ silver warts’ add to your understanding of the vegetables offered for sale?
Answer: It tells that the vegetables are wild and lack the polish of the similar ones sold in the city. Hence they hold no appeal for the urban rich.

Question. What articles are ‘offered for sale’ at the stand?
Answer: Wild berries in wooden containers, crook-necked golden squash with silver warts and paintings of mountain scenery are for sale at the roadside stand.

Question. What qualities of the ‘offered articles’ make them unfit for sale?
Answer: The articles for sale at the roadside stand are wild and therefore lack the polished look of the similar articles available in the cities. Moreover these articles are not packaged properly and they are far expensive than those in the cities.

2 . 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

Question. What do the owners of the shack wish for?
Answer: The owners of the shack wish to some cash by selling their products.

Question. How will it help them?
Answer: It will help them to better their living conditions.

Question. Name the poem and poet?
Answer: The poem is A Roadside Stand and the poet is Robert Frost.

Question. What is not a complaint for the poet?
Answer: The hurt to the scenery is not a complaint for the poet.

3. 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.

Question. Why do the people driving in the cars stop sometimes? 
Answer: The people driving in the car stop sometimes either to reverse, just enquire about the way to their destination or to ask for a gallon of gas if they ran short of it.

Question. Why does sadness lurk there? 
Answer: Sadness lurks there hoping for one of the cars passing by to stop, there to buy anything from their roadside stand so that the rural folk are able to earn some extra money.

Question. Identify the poetic device used in 'sadness lurks‘
Answer: Personification- sadness is a feeling but it has been given the human quality of lurking which means to hide while waiting for someone.

Question. Why is the longing called childish?
Answer: Like children, these rural folks nurture many unfulfilled dreams and desires which might never be satisfied. They crave in vain like children waiting for their wish for some money in exchange for their berries and squash to be fulfilled.

Question. What cannot be borne by the poet and why?
Answer: The poet cannot bear the thought of how these country folks are lured with false promises which are never going to be fulfilled and also because their child like faith in their fellow human beings understanding their plight and plea for help goes in vain, because not one passerby stops to buy what the farmer has on sale.

Question. Why the longing has been termed as 'vain‘?
Answer: The longing has been termed as 'vain‘ because it will never be fulfilled.

Question. Why is the longing a vain one?
(a) Because the farmer is being vain
(b) Because the farmer has reposed his faith in his fellow beings
(c) Because not one passerby stops to serve the famers purpose of putting up th roadside stand
(d) Both C and B

Answer: C

Question. The cars stopped to
(a) Buy the berries
(b) Reverse
(c) Ask for directions
(d) Reverse, ask directions, buy petrol

Answer: D

Question. The word childish is used to refer to
(a) The farmer‘s child-like innocence
(b) The farmer‘s innocent faith in mankind
(c) The immature act of the farmer
(d) Both A and B

Answer: B

Question. Why does sadness lurk?
(a) It wants money
(b) The farmer is haunted by the sadness
(c) The farmer is hopefully lurking behind the window for a car to stop
(d) The farmer waits with a sad heart for a car to stop

Answer: D

Question. The poet finds it intolerable to bear
(a) the entrapment of the farmers
(b) Their waiting in vain for one of the selfish cars to stop
(c) Their loss of faith in mankind
(d) Both A and B

Answer: D

Question. The poetic device used in‘ sadness lurks‘ is
(a) Personification
(b) assonance
(c) Metaphor
(d) Transferred epithet

Answer: A

4. No in country money, the country scale of gain
The requisite lift of spirit has never been found
Or so the voice of the county 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

Question. What is the complain that the voice of the country has to make?
Answer: The complaint of the voice of the country is that they have never earned sufficient money even by the standard of living of the country side.

Question. What would be a relief for the poet?
Answer: It would be a great relief for the poet if he could put the people out of their misery in one stroke.

Question. What does the poet intend when he says-'To put these people at one stroke out of their pain‘?
Answer: The poet wants to kill the impoverished people.

Question. What does the poet mean by 'country money‘?
Answer: He is referring to the meagre income of the country people.

Question. 'Requisite lift of spirit 'means?
Answer: Requisite lift of spirit is a reference to earning sufficient money to meet the basic needs of life, as it would bring happiness, satisfaction and also lift their economic status.

Question. Who is the voice of the country?
Answer: The farmer in particular and the people living in the country side/ the villages in general.

Question. Who is the voice of the country?
(a) the farmer
(b) The Country people
(c) The poet
(d) The farmer in particular and the people living in the country side in general

Answer: D

Question. What is the voice‘s complaint
(a) It‘s penury
(b) That not even a single car stopped
(c) That the city dwellers are selfish
(d) The government preys upon them

Answer: A

Question. The phrase synonymous to earning sufficient money is
(a) Country money
(b) Country scale of gain
(c) Requisite lift of spirit
(d) Both B and C

Answer: C

Question. How should we reciprocate once the poet has put the country people out of their misery
(a) By applauding the poet
(b) By being gentle with him
(c) By going to him
(d) By gently putting him out of his misery.

Answer: D

Question. The poet would feel immense relief when
(a) At least a car would stop
(b) When the voice would stop whining
(c) When he could put the country people out of their misery
(d) All the above

Answer: C

Question. The phrase 'country money‘ refers to
(a) the meagre income of the country
(b) The meagre income of the country people
(c) Both a and B
(d) The standard of living in a country

Answer: A

Short Answer Type Questions:

Question. What are the usual complaints made by the city men when they stop at the roadside stand?
Answer: The rich people to and from the cities usually have the same sets of complaints. Having failed to see the wretchedness of the poor, they complain that the roadside stand, with the tasteless way in which it is painted, ruined the beauty of the nature. Another complaint is that direction boards are wrongly written.

Question. State the reasons for which the cars from the city halt at the roadside stand?
Answer: Some cars stop at the roadside stand to take a reverse and some of them ask for directions to their destinations. A few of them demand fuel.

Question. What do you mean by ‘polished traffic?
Answer: Polished traffic portrays the insensitive attitude and gentlemanly appearances of the city-men.

Question. Robert Frost sympathy for the rural poor is evoked by two incidents in the poem. What are these? 
Answer: Robert Frost feels an unbearable agony at the plight of the rural poor who are ignored and neglected by the rich politicians. The Government and the party in power are indifferent to their welfare. The fact that the farmers silent plea through his open prayer in the form of the roadside stand goes unnoticed also elicits the poet‘s sympathy.

Question. What does Frost himself feel about the roadside stand? 
Answer: The poet is distressed to see the interminable wait on the part of the shed owners for their prospective buyers. He is agonized at the 'childish longing in vain‘ of the people who have put up the roadside stand.

Question. Why didn‘t the 'polished traffic‘ stop at the roadside stand? 
Answer: The 'polished traffic‘ conveniently overlook the roadside stand and do not stop there as their mind is focused only on their destination. They are caught up in their thoughts and have no heart nor mind to spare for the poor farmer. Moreover, they were so self centric that they were angry with the farmer for having spoiled the scenic beauty of the country side with his crude roadside stand.

Question. Why do the people who run the roadside stand wait for the squeal of brakes so eagerly?
Answer: The people wait eagerly for the "squealing of brakes" because the sound would mean that a car has stopped at their roadside stand. It raises their hopes that the city-folk have stopped there to buy something from their roadside stand and some city money will come into their hands, the very reason behind their putting up the stand would be served.

Question. Why do people at the roadside stand ask for city money? 
Answer: The rural people running the roadside stand are poor and deprived, unlike the people of the city.
They thus ask for city money so that they too can lead a life of happiness and prosperity. This much-needed city money can give them the life that had been promised to them by the party in power.

Question. What is the 'childish longing‘ of the folk who had put up the roadside stand? Why is it 'in vain‘? 
Answer: The 'childish longing‘, the poet refers to, is the dreams and desires of the rural folk who have a child-like longing for a better life. Their longing is for an empathetic understanding and reciprocal action from the city folk. Their longing is in vain because the city folk neither have the seeing eye nor an understanding heart as not a single car stops to buy their wares.

Question. Explain: "soothe them out of them wits‖ with reference to the poem The Roadside Stand‘.
Answer: The powerful men approach the country folk with false promises of providing them with better living conditions and a better life. These innocent and simple rustics repose blind faith in their false claims and feel soothed and satisfied. They fail to see through their crookedness and selfishness.

Question. What news in the poem 'A Roadside Stand‘ is making its round in the village? 
Answer: The news making its round is about the resettlement of the poor, rural people who will be resettled in the villages, next to the theatre and the store. They would be provided with all they needed and thus won‘t have to worry about themselves any more.

Question. Why does the poet say that it would be unfair to say that the roadside stand pled for a dole of bread?
Answer: The farmer who has put up the roadside stand is not begging for a dole of bread that is alms. We understand this from the fact that on the stand lie wild berries in wooden quarts and golden squash which he wants the city folk to buy from him so he can earn some of the money they have in plentiful.

Question. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand? 
Answer: The folk who had put up the roadside stand pleaded to the city dwellers to stop and buy their wares so as to enable them to earn some extra money for a decent living. They wanted that the rich people to see and empathize with their plight and help them out by buying some goods from them. The money that these folks would earn from the rich people would help them to lead a better life, thus giving them the requisite lift of spirit.

Question. Explain, ‘passed with a mind ahead.’
Answer: The city people who passed by the roadside stand were self-centered and their minds were restless with greed for money and ambitions for great profits in their business.

Long Answer Type Questions:

Question. The merciful act was not merciful but cruel and self -serving. Elucidate.
Answer: It was reported in the news that the government with the help of the rich beneficiaries intended to uplift the poverty-stricken country people.
The plan was to buy out their holdings and then relocate them to welfare villages or new settlement. There they would be provided with all amenities. They wouldn‘t need to worry about their next meal. In this manner they would be lulled into a false sense of security which would slowly but steadily erode their ability to think. The greedy good doers, the beneficent beasts of prey be the real winners because they would for pittance gain immense stretches of land, which would be a veritable gold mine for them. Their strategy to usurp the land and rob the people was disguised in the form of the calculated benefits of theatres and shops. This deprives the poor country people of their capacity to eek a living with self-respect. In turn they lose their selfworth and self-pride which leads to the loss of their peace of mind. Thus, they lose their ability to sleep, an ability they had once before the greedy good doers encroached upon their lives with welfare schemes.

Question. Describe the roadside stand mentioned in the title of the poem.
Answer: The farmer living the little house by the road side had constructed a new shed an extension to use as a roadside stand. It was a crude structure. He had recycled the discarded road signs to construct the stand. This gave it an ugly appearance as the painting of the road signs was more practical than artistic. The fact that the farmer had unwittingly placed the road signs pointing in the wrong direction added to the loss of its appeal to the passersby. The road side stand stood out like a sore thumb as it destroyed the rustic beauty of the mountains and the country side. It symbolized the farmers trust in his fellow human beings, his mute appeal to help him earn a little extra without losing his self- worth and self-respect.

1. Answer in 30 – 40 words each:

a. Why was the narrator praying for crowd-shooting all the time?

b. How did the lawyer unwittingly bring an end to a brief and brilliant career of a young actress?

c. What misconceptions did the author and his khadi-clad friends have about communists?

d. Stephen Spender’s visit to the Gemini Studios was viewed as an unexplained mystery by the Gemini family. How did Asoka, Maitran solve this mystery years later?

2. Answer in 125 – 150 words each:

a. What idea do you get about Stephen Spender from the lesson, ‘Poets and Pancakes’?

b. What idea do you get about the narrator from the lesson ‘Poets and Pancakes’?

c. “Such a charitable and improvident man, and yet he (Subbu) had enemies.” Discuss.

A Roadside Stand

1. Answer the following in 30 – 40 words each:

a. How does the poet criticise the city ways?

b. How does the poet highlight the mean and selfish nature of the city dwellers?

c. What empty promises are being made to the country people by the party in power?

d. Bring out the paradoxical statements in the poem.

2. Explain the following briefly:

a. little old house g. pitiful kin

b. out of sorts h. soothe them out of their wit

c. if ever aside a moment i. greedy good-doers

d. out of sorts j. beneficent beasts of prey

e. trusting sorrow k. country money

f. make our being expand l. country scale of gain