NCERT English Class 12 | Chapter 13 | A Roadside Stand | Question Answer |

BEFORE YOU READ                                                                                     PAGE 100

1. Have you ever stopped at a roadside stand? What have you observed there?

Answer: Robert Frost feels that the joy we feel when we come across anything beautiful, even if it is only for a little period, lasts a lifetime. It creates an indelible imprint on us, inspiring us to live a life full of optimism and hope.

THINK IT OUT                                                                                                PAGE 102

1. The city folk who drove through the countryside hardly paid any heed to the roadside stand or to the people who ran it. If at all they did, it was to complain. Which lines bring this out? What was their complaint about?

Answer: “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”

According to city residents, vendors with inartistic signboards detract from the scenic splendour of the area.

2. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?

Answer: Rural residents begged visitors to stop and buy their wares in a pitiful manner. Because city people went by on this road, the rural people set up a stand on the side of the road to draw their attention and sell their wares.

3. The government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor rural people, but actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show their double standards.

Answer: The poet condemns the government's double standards as well as social service groups that promise to enhance farmers' living circumstances and lead them along the correct path. When it comes to delivering the promise, however, they either forget or fulfil it by focusing on their personal benefits. They are "beneficent creatures of prey" and "greedy good-doers," according to the poet, who "swarm over their lives." According to the poet, these guys make well-thought-out and determined smart tactics, taking advantage of farmers who are naïve and innocent. These astute individuals deprive these basic and humble farmers of their peace of mind. The poet says,

“…… 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.”

4. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘vain’?

Answer: The people who manage the roadside stand, according to Robert Frost, suffer from 'childish longing.' Customers are constantly expected, and they are patiently awaited. To attract them, they keep their windows open all the time. They grow depressed when no one shows up. They continually wait for the sound of brakes squealing and a car stopping, but their efforts are in vain.

5. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?

Answer: The poet, who is filled with empathy, cannot stand the situation of the innocent and modest country people. The lines which tell us about the insufferable pain is:

“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”

 

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3. Deep Water Question Answer	4. The Rattrap Question Answer
5. Indigo Question Answer	6. Poets and Pancakes Question Answer
7. The Interview Question Answer	8. Going Places Question Answer
9. My Mother  at Sixty-six Question Answer	10. An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Question Answer
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13. A Roadside Stand Question Answer	14. Aunt Jennifer's Tigers Question Answer