ROADSIDE STAND
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.
(a) Why was the new shed put up by the villagers ?
(b) Why the word ‘pathetically1 was used ?
(c) What would not be fair and why ?
(d) How cash supports the cities ?
(a) The new shed was put up by the villagers to earn some money by selling their
products.
(b) Word ‘pathetically’ was used to show the miserable and pitiful condition of the
farmers.
(c) To say for a ‘dole of bread’ would not be fair because those farmers have their
self-respect and they do not need begging.
(d) Cash escapes the cities from sinking and withering faint.
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,
Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,
Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene,
(a) What does ‘the polished traffic’ mean?
(b) How the landscape was marred?
(c) What was sold there at roadside stands?
(d) What is meant by ‘out of sorts’?
(a)The polished traffic means the glossy, dexterous and proudly traffic.
(b) The landscape was marred with the artless paint of signs that with N turned
wrong and S turned wrong.
(c) Wild berries in wooden quarts and crook-necked golden squash with silver warts
are sold there.
(d) ‘Out of sorts’ means complaining, bad-tempered or unhappy.
3.You have the money, but if you want to be mean,
Why keep your money (his 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.
(a) How are the city dwellers proved to be mean?
(b) Where have they made their roadside stands?
(c) Why do the farmers need some city money to feel in hand?
(d) What is the promise of the ruling party?
(a) City dwellers have enough money but they go along without spending it.
(b) ‘They have made their roadside stands far from the city.
(c) The farmers need some city money to feel in hand to make their being expand
and to live life like their ideals/heroes.
(d) The party in power promises to give them a comfortable and luxury life without
worry and economic problem.
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 theatre and the store,
Where they won’t have to think for themselves any more,
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.
(a) what is in the news?
(b) What, according to the greedy good-doers, is the benefit of the farmers?
(c) ‘Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits’, explain.
(d) How their sleeping would be destroyed?
(a) It is in the news that all these pitiful kin are to be brought out and gathered
mercifully, these farmers would be settled in the villages near the theatre and the
store.
(b) The farmers won’t have to think for themselves any-more.
(c) Above mentioned line means: Capturing the lives of the farmers by enforcing their
own benefits; using them for purposes.
(d) By teaching them how to sleep, their ancient way of sleeping would be destroyed.
5.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); thy had none, didn’t it see
Questions
(a) What can be hardly borne by the poet?
(b) What do they wait for?
(c) How cars are selfish?
(d) What is the reply of the farmers at last?
Answers
(a) The poet can hardly bear the thought of so much childish longing in vain:
expectations that would never be fulfilled.
(b) They (farmers) wait for the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car; actually
they wait for the real customers.
(c) Cars are said to be selfish because nobody stops there to buy anything but to
inquire only or to plow up the grass by turning their heavy vehicles.
(d) The farmers angrily reply that they have nothing as per their demand, do they not
see whatever they are selling.
Stanza 6
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.
Questions
(a) what is not found in country money?
(b) Who complains and why?
(c) How poet finds himself helpless?
(d) Why was poet wondered?
Answers
(a)The requisite lift of spirit is never found in country money, at the country scale of
gain.
(b) The voice (villagers) of the country complains because no relief is given to them
from the government or greedy good-doers.
(c) The poet finds himself helpless as he is unable to put those people out of their
pain at one stroke.
(d) The poet was wondered because he was expecting them to come to him and put
him gently out of his pain.
