The poem describes a roadside stand run by poor rural people who are pleading for financial help from passing cars. They display local produce like berries and squash for sale in hopes that someone will stop and buy something. The passing traffic is annoyed by the signs advertising the goods. The rural people want some money from the wealthy city dwellers to improve their living conditions. However, the city people see the rural folk as marring the landscape and do not stop. While politicians promise the rural poor a better life through resettlement programs, the poem suggests these programs will actually prevent self-sufficiency and exploit the rural people for the benefit of wealthy elites.

1. A Roadside Stand
Robert Frost
Mukthananda

2. Robert Frost

3. Robert Frost’s Profile
Robert Frost was born on 26 January 1874 in San Francisco,
California. His father William Frost, was a journalist. His
Scottish mother, Isabelle Moody, resumed her career as a
schoolteacher to support her family. In 1892 Frost graduated
from a high school and attended Darthmouth College for a few
months. Frost worked among others in a textile mill and
taught Latin at his mother’s school.

4. Robert Frost’s Profile
In1895 he married a former schoolmate, Elinor White and had
six children. From 1897 to 1899 Frost studied at Harvard
University, but left without receiving a degree. He worked as
a cobbler, farmer and teacher. In 1912 Frost sold his farm and
took his wife and four young children to England. After a
period of time he came back to the USA with his family. He
died on January 21, 1963 at the age 88, at Boston,
Massachusettes, USA.

5. Robert Frost in his young age

6. Robert Frost as a child and with his son

7. Robert Frost with his family and his farm house in Derry Farm, USA.

8. Robert Frost with his wife Elinor White

9. Robert Frost is reading his controversial poem in the presence of John Kennedy, the American
President

10. Robert Frost in American postal stamp and in his Derry Farm

11. A view of Sanfancisco city, USA where he was born

12. A view of Boston, USA where he died

13. A view of San Francisco University where Robert Frost was a student

14. A view of Darmouth College, USA where studied

15. A view of Harvard University, Cambridge USA where he studied and left without degree

16. Other Works
1. Stopping by the Woods by the
Snowy Evening
2. Birches
3. Mending Walls
4. Road Not Taken
5. Fire and Ice
6. Desert Places
7. A Patch of Old Snow
8. A Soldier

17. Style of his writing
1. Simple
2. Insightful
3. Symbolic
4. Narrative
5. Art of visual forming
6. Use of simple words and short stanzas

18. Background
The poet, Robert Frost is the witness of the pathetic living
condition of the poor in rural areas of America. The sight of
the roadside stand and its owner’s unattended prayer for help
from their city brethren and the apathy of the authority
towards them drew the attention of the poet. The poet
wishes to say that the poor can progress only when the rich
don’t exploit them. Through this poem, he requests the
government and the rich to take responsibility to improve the
condition of the poor.

19. Theme
The existing divide between the rich
and the poor in society.

20. Sub - Theme
The poet’s sympathy towards the poor
and his complaints on the authority.

21. Suitable Quotations
1. ‘If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our
institutions, great is our sin’.
- Charles Darwin
2. ‘The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing
would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems’.
- Gandhiji
3. ‘Hungry not only for bread–but hungry for love Naked not only for
clothing-but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for
want of a room of bricks–but homeless because of rejection’.
- Mother Teresa
4. Hunger is the greatest human sin.

22. Summery of the poem

23. A Roadside Stand - Reading
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 mountain scene,

24. A roadside Stand - Reading
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.

25. A roadside Stand - Reading
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.

26. A roadside Stand - Reading
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?

27. A roadside Stand - Reading
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 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.

28. Pronunciation
1. Pathetically 11. swarm
2. Withering 12. enforcing
3. Marred 13. soothe
4. Berries 14. longing
5. Warts 15. lurks
6. Crook-necked 16. squeal
7. Squash 17. inquire
8. Pitiful 18. gallon
9. Good-doers 19. requisite
10. Beneficent 20. sane

29. Rhyme Words
shed – sped – pled – bread – ahead - unsaid
stand – hand – expand
around – bound – found
supports – sorts – quarts – warts
faint – paint – complaint
wrong – along
scene – mean - kin – in
vain - gain – complain – pain – sane – pain
store – anymore - bear - there – prayer – car – are
prey – day – way
benefits – wits
pass – grass - gas
see – be - me

30. Stanza - I
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.

31. Rhyming Words - Stanza I
shed – sped – pled - bread

32. Stanza I Synonyms
1. shed - hut, shack
2. edge - border, end, periphery
3. traffic - vehicles
4. pathetically - sadly, pitifully
5. pled - begged, appealed
6. fair - just
7. dole of bread - donations
8. flow - run, pour
9. sinking - falling, dropping
10. withering - dying

33. Stanza I Antonyms
1. edge x centre
2. fair x unfair
3. sinking x rising
4. Withering x thriving

34. A Roadside Stand

35. A Roadside Stand

36. A Roadside Stand

37. Stanza I Questions
1. Where was the new shed located?
2. Why did the roadside stand plead pathetically?
3. What help did the owner of the stand look for?
4. What did the money of the urban area support?

38. Stanza I Answers
1. The new shed was located close to the edge of the road.
2. The roadside stand pled pathetically because its owner was financially
weak and could not maintain its upkeep.
3. He was not looking for some alms but some financial support from his city
brethren by buying his wares.
4. The money of the urban area was collected in the form of taxes. It is used
to maintain parks and flowers in the gardens.

39. Stanza - II
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 mountain scene,

40. Rhyming Words - Stanza II
sorts – quarts - warts

41. Stanza II Synonyms
1. polished - refined, elegant
2. ahead - forward, advance
3. out or sorts - annoyed
4. landscape - scenery, background
5. marred - spoiled, blemished
6. artless - simple, ordinary, tasteless
7. signs - signboard

42. 1. offered - present
2. wild berries - type of fruit
3. wooden quarts - wooden containers
4. crook necked - bent
5. golden squash - gold coloured pumpkin
6. silver warts - white lump or marks
7. rest - relax, lies
Stanza II Synonyms

43. Stanza II Antonyms
1. polished x coarse, unrefined
2. instant x age
3. ahead x backward
4. ever x never
5. marred x unspoiled
6. artless x artful
7. wild x tamed

44. Polished Traffic on the Highway

45. Polished Traffic on the Highway

46. A scene of beautiful landscape

47. Wild Berries kept for sale

48. Wooden Quarts in which fruits are kept for sale

49. Crook-necked golden squash

50. Crook-necked golden Squash (Pumpkin)

51. Vegetable with Silver warts (lines)

52. A beautiful mountain scene

53. Stanza II Questions
1. What is the polished traffic?
2. Why is the traffic out of sorts?
3. What sights disturbed the city dwellers?
4. Explain ‘beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene’.
5. What were the things displayed for sale?

54. Stanza II Answers
1. It is the costly and beautiful cars which come from cities toward rural areas.
2. It is out of sorts because the people travel in the cars are irritated or unhappy at
the bad side of the country side.
3. The spoiled landscape with its artless sign board and the unaesthetic display of
fruits and vegetables in wooden quarts disturbed the city dwellers.
4. The city people feel that mountains are a beautiful place where they can relax and
enjoy, but the roadside stand marred its beauty.
5. They displayed wild berries and golden squash for sale.

55. Stanza - III
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,

56. Rhyming Words - Stanza III
unsaid – stand – hand - expand

57. Stanza III Synonyms
1. mean - selfish, cheap, low standard
2. crossly - angrily, irritably
3. hurt - harm, damage
4. complaint- grievance, objection
5. trusting - trust, gullible
6. sorrow - grief, sadness
7. unsaid - unspoken, unstated
8. far - distant, remote
9. feel - sense, experience
10. expand - develop, enlarge

58. Stanza III Antonyms
1. mean x high standard
2. crossly x good-naturally
3. trusting x suspicious
4. sorrow x joy
5. unsaid x spoken
6. far x close by, near

59. Stanza III Questions
1. Why is the farmer unhappy with the city dwellers?
2. What does the farmer feel the city dwellers should not have
felt?
3. What do the poor expect from the their city brethren?
4. How would the money have helped the rural folk?

60. Stanza III Answers
1. The farmer is unhappy with the condescending(humiliating) attitude of the
city dwellers, who feel that the rural people have marred the beauty of the
countryside.
2. The farmer feels that the city dwellers should not have complained for the
marring of beauty of the mountains by them.
3. They expect some financial help from their city brethren by selling their wares
to them.
4. The money would have helped the rural folk in improving their lifestyle.

61. Stanza - IV
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,

62. Rhyming Words - Stanza IV
promise – us
kin – in
store – anymore

63. Stanza IV Synonyms
1. moving picture - cinema, movies
2. assure - swear, assurance
3. party - ruling politicians
4. pitiful - deplorable, pathetic
5. kin - relatives, people with same problems
6. mercifully - fortunately, thankfully
7. theatre - cinema theater
8. store - market, shopping centre

64. Stanza IV Antonyms
1. moving x still, unmoving
2. pitiful x admirable
3. mercifully x unfortunately
4. gathered x scattered
5. anymore x no more

65. Stanza IV Questions
1. What life do the moving pictures promise?
2. What is the party in power?
3. Who are the pitiful kin?
4. What has been in the news?
5. How will they benefit by living here?

66. Stanza IV Answers
1. Films do not reveal the reality of life. The life in the movie appear to be comfortable
and free of all difficulties of life. This is the life the poor country people are promised.
2. The party in power refers to the political party who rule over the people.
3. Pitiful kin refers to all those people of the rural areas who are in the same hopeless
situation.
4. It has been in the news that all these poor folk are to be resettled in areas with
amenities like the cinema hall and the stores.
5. The country people will benefit because they will be taken care of in their new homes.
They need not struggle for survival.

67. Stanza V
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.

68. Rhyming Words - Stanza V
prey – day – way
benefits - wits

69. Stanza V Synonyms
1. greedy - hungry, gluttonous
2. beneficent - generous
3. swarm - gather in large number
4. enforcing - impose, implement
5. Benefits - benefit, settlement
6. prey - victim, kill
7. calculated - designed, planned
8. soothe - pacify, alleviate, calm
9. wits - mind, sense
10. ancient way - the old way

70. Stanza V Antonyms
1. greedy x moderate
2. beneficent x tightfisted, stingy
3. swarm x disperse, scatter
4. calculated x ingenious
5. soothe x excite
6. sleep x wake
7. destroy x build
8. ancient x modern

71. Stanza V Questions
1. Who are the greedy good-doers?
2. Why are they referred to as beneficent beasts of prey?
3. How do these rich city people sleep?
4. How has the sleeping of the country people been destroyed?
5. What is the ancient way?

72. Stanza - V Answers
1. The greedy good doers are those people who pretend to do good for the poor rural people only
to extract the maximum benefit by misleading them.
2. They are just like predatory animal. They grabbed their land and numbed their senses by bribing
them through so many benefits.
3. The rich people sleep peacefully as they have managed to befool the poor people by enforcing so
many benefits. The rich are free to do all these things as they do not face any opposition from the
poor.
4. Earlier, the poor rural people had little sleep at night. Now their sleep pattern is changed as they
worry about their unsure future. Instead of giving them peaceful sleep, the rich destroyed their
sleep.
5. The ancient way of getting any work done is through bribery. The land grabbers too have
managed to bribe the poor by promising benefit and getting their work done.

73. Stanza - VI
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,

74. Rhyming Words – Stanza VI
bear – there – prayer - car

75. Stanza VI Synonyms
1. hardly - barely, scarcely
2. bear - accept, tolerate
3. childish - immature
4. longing - desire, wish, yearning
5. vain - unsuccessful, ineffective
6. lurks - waits
7. open prayer - the prayer broadly exposed
8. squeal - sound

76. Stanza VI Antonyms
1. hardly x often, frequently
2. Sadness x joy
3. stopping x starting

77. Stanza VI Questions
1. Explain ‘childish longing in vain’?
2. Why does sadness lurk near the open window?
3. What does this verse, reveal about the mental state
of the farmer?

78. Stanza VI Answers
1. It is childish because just like children do not accept the gesture of refusal
easily, so does the farmer. He keeps waiting, but only to be disappointed.
2. The farmer waits in his old house looking out of his window, hoping for
someone to stop by and buy his wares. When no one does, he is left sad
and disappointed.
3. The farmer is obviously distraught and in despair. He is immensely
disturbed because his city brethren do not buy anything from his shop..

79. Stanza - VII
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?

80. Rhyming Words – Stanza VII
pass – grass – gas
around – bound

81. Stanza VII Synonyms
1. selfish - self-centred, self-seeking
2. enquire - ask for information, request
3. prices - cost, value
4. plow up - throw up
5. yard - an area
6. bound - inquire
7. gallon - a measure
8. crossly - angrily, irritably

82. Stanza VII Antonyms
1. selfish x altruistic
2. pass x pause
3. crossly x good-naturedly

83. Stanza VII Questions
1. Did any car stop by to enquire about the farmer’s
price?
2. Why did the other car drivers stop?
3. Why do you thinks the farmer was annoyed?

84. Stanza VII Answers
1. No, no car stopped to enquire about the farmer’s price.
2. One car stopped only to take reverse. Another stopped to enquire
about the route. The third one stopped only to ask if the farmer sold
petrol.
3. The farmer was annoyed at the insensitivity of the car drivers because
they asked many unintelligent questions in stead of buying his goods.

85. Stanza - VIII
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 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.

86. Rhyming Words – Stanza VIII
gain – complain – pain – pain
be - me

87. Stanza VIII Synonyms
1. scale - range, degree
2. requisite - required, essential, adequate
3. spirit - courage, strength of mind
4. complain - protest, grumble
5. owning - possessing, having
6. stroke - blow, knock
7. sane - rational, sensible, normal
8. wonder - doubt, be unsure
9. offer - present, tender
10. gently - softly, lightly
11. pain - ache, hurt

88. Stanza VIII Antonyms
1. requisite x inadequate
2. sane x irrational, insane
3. gently x harshly

89. Stanza VIII Questions
1. Explain ‘country money’.
2. Explain ’the country scale of gain’.
3. What is the requisite lift of spirit?
4. Why has it never been found?

90. Stanza VIII Answers
1. It refers to the money earned through farming.
2. It means that agriculture is the only source of income through
which they can benefit.
3. It refers to the spirit and desire of the poor to improve their
condition.
4. It has never been found because of the negligence of the
government, greedy politicians and the meek nature of the
poor.

91. Stanza VIII Questions
5. What is ‘the voice of the country’?
6. What does the poet wish to do?
7. What does ‘coming back into the sane’ mean’?

92. Stanza VIII Answers
5. It is the voice of the poor and the poor condition of
the country side.
6. The poet wishes to remove all the miseries,
difficulties of the poor.
7. It means thinking rationally without any emotions as
he has become mad by seeing the misery of the
poor.

93. Figure of Speech
1. Personification
2. Alliteration
3. Couplet
4. Imagery

94. Figure of Speech - Answer
1. A roadside stand that too pathetically pled
The poet has given human qualities to the lifeless roadside stand which pleads the car
owners for some kind of help.
2. Greedy good, beneficent beast, pathetically pled
The first letter of the two words are same.
3. It is in the news that all these pitiful kin
Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in
The last sound of these two lines are same.
4. A roadside stand that too pathetically pled
The poet imagined that the roadside stand itself pleads pathetically

95. Assignments
1. How does the poet comment on the divide between the
rich and the poor through this poem?
2. ‘The government and the other social service agencies are
responsible for the poverty of the village folk’. Explain this
statement through this poem.

96. Thank You