5. A Road Side Stand ( Robert Frost)

A Road Side Stand  ( Robert Frost)

About the poet:  Robert Lee Frost ( March 26, 1874 -  January 29, 1963 ) was an American Poet. His works was initially published in England before published America, known for his realistic depiction of rural life and his command of American Colloquial speech. Robert Frost wrote about Charecters, people and landscapes. His poems are concerned with human tragedies and fears, his poem reaction to complexities of life and his ultimate acceptance of his burdens. Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening, Birches, Mending Walls are a few of his well -known poems. In the poem A Road Side Stand, Frost presents the lives of poor deprived people with pitiless clarity and with the deepest sympathy and humanity.

Main Points Of The Poem

1. In this poem, Robert Frost expresses his pain and anger at the pitiable life of poor farmers and other deprived classes. (इस  कविता में रॉबर्ट फ्रॉस्ट गरीब किसानों तथा अन्य वंचित वर्गों के दयनीय जीवन पर अपनी पीड़ा और क्रोध की अभिवयक्ति करता है। )
2. Some poor farmers put up roadside stands so that they can earn some money from the rich city people going that way in their magnificent cars. (कुछ गरीब किसान सड़क किनारे स्टैंड (ढाबे ) बना लेते है ताकि वे अमीर शहरी  लोगों से कुछ पैसे कमा सकें जो शानदार कारों में उस रस्ते से गुजर रहे हों। )
3. The poor owner of the stand keeps sitting by the open window all day long. Out of the thousand cars that pass that way, he keeps waiting for one at least to stop there and buy a few of the things he has for sale. (स्टैंड का मालिक पूरा दिन भर खुली खिड़की के पास बैठा रहता है।  उन हजारों कारों में से जो वह से गुजरती है वह काम से काम एक की प्रतीक्षा करता रहता है कि वह वहां पर रुके और उसके द्वारा बेचे जाने वाली चीजों में से कुछ एक खरीदे। )
4. But hardly any car stops there. If someone looks aside there a moment, he feels irritated. It irritates him to see how badly the stand - shed has been painted. He feels that the artless paint has spoiled the beauty of the landscape. ( किन्तु मुश्किल से ही कोई कर वहां रूकती है।  यदि कभी  कोई  एक पल सर घुमा कर देखता है तो चिढ जाता है।  उसे यह देख आकर चिढ आ जाती है कि  स्टैंड वाले स्टैंड को कितनी  बुरी तरह से पेंट किया गया है। वह महसूस करता है कि बेढंगे पेंट ने प्रकृति की सुंदरता को ख़राब कर दिया है। )
5. The rich man in the car has money in his pocket but he think it below his dignity to stop and shop at such a place. The poor man at the stand is filled with sorrow to see that the car has not stopped there. (कार में बैठे हुए आदमी की जेब में पैसे होते है किन्तु वह ऐसी जगह पर रुकना और खरीददारी करना अपनी शान के खिलाप समझता है।  स्टैंड पर गरीब दुकानदार यह देखकर उदासी से भर जाता है कि कार वहां नहीं रुकी है। )
6. The poet thinks of the foxy politicians who fool the poor with big promises but never do anything real for them. While pretending to be worried about the welfare of the poor the, merely fill their own offers. (कवी उन मक्कार राजनीतिज्ञों के बारे में सोचता है जो गरीबों से बड़े बड़े वायदे करके उन्हें मुर्ख बनाते है किन्तु उनके लिए वास्तविक रूप से कभी कुछ नहीं करते।  गरीबों की भलाई के लिए चिंतित रहने का नाटक करते हुए वे मात्र अपनी ही तिजोरियों को भरते है। )
7. Thinking of the poor owner of the roadside stand, the poet feels pained. He feels pained to think how the poor man keeps sitting all day at his open window and waiting for some car to stop there. (सड़क किनारे गरीब दूकानदार के बारे में सोचते हुए कवि को पीड़ा महसूस होती है।  उसे यह ोच कर पीड़ा होती है कि किस तरह गरीब आदमी पूरा दिन अपनी खुली खिड़की के पास बैठा रहता है और किसी कर के वहां रुकने का इंतजार करता रहता है. )
8. If ever any car stops there, it is not to buy anything. It stops there either to turn back, or to ask the way or to ask it can have a gallon of petrol from there. (यदि कभी कोई कर वहां रूकती है तो वह कोई चीज़ खरीदने के लिए नहीं रूकती है।  यह वहाँ पर रूकती है या तो वापस मुड़ने के लिए , या रास्ता पूछने के लिए या यह पूछने के लिए कि क्या उसे वहां से एक गैलन पेट्रोल मिलेगा। )
9. The poet wants that these poor people should br taken out of their pain and poverty at one stroke. He says that it would be a great relief to him if it happens so. कवि चाहता है कि इन गरीब लोगों को एक ही झटके में उनकी पीड़ा और गरीवी से बहार निकल दिया जाये।  वह कहता है कि यदि ऐसा हो जाये तो बड़ी रहत महसूस होगी। )

Poem

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.

Explanatin- There was a little old house by the roadside. A little new shed had been added to it on the outside. It was in the front of the house and was at the edge of the road.  Fast vehicles kept going up and down the road. The little shed was put up up as a roadside stand. 

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 O turned wrong

offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts,

Or crook -necked golden squash with silver warts,

Or rest in a beautifil mountain scene,

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 the 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 life of the moving-pictures'promise
That the party in power is said to be keeping 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,
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

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
The couldn't (this crossly); they had none, didn't it see?

No, in country money, the country scale of gain,
The requisite life 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.

 SHORT -ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS (30 -40 WORDS)

Q 1- The city folk drove through the countryside hardly paid any heed to the roadside stand or           the people who ran it. If at all they did, it was to complain. Which lines bring this out?                 What was their complaint about ? 
Ans-The following lines show the complaint of the city folk:
         ....out of sorts
        At having the landscape marred with the artless paint
        of signs....
        The city people thought that the artless paint of signs made at the stand spoiled the beauty of the           landcape. On seeing it, they felt out of sorts.

Q 2- What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stands ? 
Ans- Those who had put up the roadside stands were poor farmers. They hoped to earn some money          from the rich city people who kept going up and down in their cars all day. They did not want              any dole of bread from them. they wanted only some money in return for the tings they had to            sell.

Q 3- The government and other social service agencies appears to help the poor rural people ,             but actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show t           their double standards ? 
Ans - The poet calls such people greedy good-doers and beneficent beast of prey. They soothe the               poor out of their wits. They teach them how to sleep , but in fact, destroy all their  sleeping at               night. And them themselves sleep all day.

Q 4- What is the ' childish longing ' that the poet refers to ? Why is it 'vain' ? 
Ans- The poor farmer keeps waiting all day for some car to stop at his stands.But hardly any car                   stops there . With a longing heart. he keeps sitting by the open window and waiting all day. His           longing proves vain when no one comes to buy the things he has put up for sale .

Q 5- Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the                   plight of the rural poor ? 
Ans- The poet says :
         '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.'
Q 6- Where was the roadside stand put up and what for ? 
Ans- The stand was in the shape of a little new shed. It was built in front of an old little house. It was            at the edge of the road. A lot of fast traffic went that way. The poor owner of the stand had                  some little things to sell. He hoped to earn a little money by selling these things.

Q 7. What does the poet say about the polished traffic?
       Ans. The rich people had polished or magnificent cars. They drove with their eyes fixed forward. If ever anyone looked aside,  he felt irritated. He was irritated to see the artless way in which the shed had been painted. He would feel that the artless paint marred the beauty of the landscape.

Q 8- What were the various things put up at the stand for sale ? 
     Ans - The stand offered for sale wild berries. They were put in wooden quarts . Then There were crook-necked golden squash. They had on their body silvery warts. Or, they had some picture of a beautiful mountain scene.

Q 9- Why did no one stop to buy at the roadside stand ? 
Ans - People in the car had money in their pockets. Yet they did not stop at the stand to buy anything . They thought it mean to stop at such a place and shop there. so they kept the money in their pockets and moved away.

Q 10- What was it that pained the poet ? 
Ans-  The poet saw how the poor man kept waiting  for some car to stop at his stand. Thousands of cars passed that way but none stopped there to but anything. Each car left the poor man waiting in sorrow. It was this pathetic wait that pained the poet .

Q 11- What was the complaint about ' the artless paint of sign' ? 

Ans - The stand-owner had got his shed painted. He had put up a few things for sale. He had made some signs in paint to indicate the things he had for sale. But the rich men going in their cars would say that the beauty of the landscape had been marred by the artless paint.