NCERT Solutions
for Class 12 English Flamingo

Chapter 4 A Roadside Stand by Robert Frost

Updated
Syllabus for 2024-2025 Exams 

Q.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 lines that bring this out are:
“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.”

The city folk
complained that the artless signs and the crude roadside stand marred the
scenic beauty of the countryside. Instead of appreciating the efforts of the
rural people trying to make a living, they were irritated by the appearance of
the stand, focusing only on how it affected their aesthetic experience.

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

Answer:
The plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand was to get some money
from the passing city folks. They did not ask for charity but for a chance to
earn through their small offerings, such as wild berries and vegetables. They
hoped that the money they earned would help them improve their lives and allow
them to experience some of the comforts and opportunities that they believed
were available in the city.

Q.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 uses several words and phrases to show the double standards of the
government and social service agencies, such as:

• “Greedy good-doers,
  beneficent beasts of prey”
• “Swarm over their lives
  enforcing benefits”
• “Calculated to soothe them
  out of their wits”

These phrases
suggest that the so-called “helpers” only appear to be offering
assistance but are, in reality, exploiting the rural people for their own
benefit. Their actions are not driven by genuine concern but by selfish
motives, and they enforce changes that do not truly address the needs of the
rural population.

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

Answer:
The ‘childish longing’ refers to the innocent and naive hope of the rural
people that one of the passing cars would stop at their roadside stand to buy
something and, in doing so, provide them with the money they desperately need.
It is ‘vain’ because, despite their longing, very few cars stop, and when they
do, it is often for reasons other than making a purchase. The rural people’s
hope of making a living from the passing city folk is largely unfulfilled,
making their longing futile.

Q.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 lines that express the poet’s insufferable pain are:
“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.”

These lines
reflect the deep sadness and frustration the poet feels when he contemplates
the hopelessness of the rural people who wait in vain for the city folk to stop
and buy something from their stand.