FLAMINGO- A ROADSIDE STAND

ROBERT LEE FROST

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural
life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from
rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and
philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honoured frequently during his
lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.
Robert Frost contrasts the lives of the poor with that of the rich in this poem, “A Roadside Stand.”
The poor people had constructed a roadside stand to sell their goodies and earn a living but the rich
do not even bother to take a look at it. Frost tells the sad plight of economically underfed people
who are often fooled by the cunning people who are responsible for their pathetic existence. The
poet cannot bear their sadness so he sympathizes with them. He deals with the lives of poor
deprived people of the villages with a clarity that is perceptive and at the same time portrays his
deepest sympathies and his feelings of humanity.The poem also brings in to focus the unfortunate
fact that progress and development are unequal between the cities and the villages leading to
feelings of distress and unhappiness among the dwellers of the latter.
In the poem, the poet describes the feelings of the owners of a roadside shed who seem to wait
interminably for those whizzing past their house in their shiny cars, to stop and buy something from
the shack-some fruit, some humble vegetables, or even stop and rest in the beautiful mountain
scape.
They long for the feel of hard currency that is a symbol of poverty alleviation in their lives of
deprivation. It appears to be a vain hope, however, that those who do glance their way are either
reproachful of the blot on the landscape, their shed, that seems to mar the beauty of the landscape,
or stop to ask for directions. Some use the space to turn their cars around unmindful of the damage
to their turf. The poet is outraged at the callous attitude of the government, the civic authorities and
the social service agencies who appear to help them but actually end up harming them.
The news says that these poor people are to be relocated to the vicinity of the towns near the theatre
and the shops. There they will be well looked after and will have nothing worrisome to think
about.The poet, however, regards this as a great disservice to the people who will be thus robbed of
their voices and their freedom and ability to find solutions to their problems.
Lulled into oblivion by this false and perhaps short-lived sense of security, the villagers will
forever lose their abilities to make calculated decisions for themselves and become pawns in the
hands of their so-called benefactors who are waiting to take over their land.

This will finally culminate in a futile sense of dissatisfaction for the villagers. The poet is filled
with sadness to see the almost childish longing that seems to emanate from the roadside shed, for a
life that is described in the movies, a life so far removed from their life in the village.
The unthinking occupants of a car who stop at the shed to buy a gallon of gas, speaks of the
disconnect that exists in the perceptions of town people with regard to the vi11agers.They are
unable to comprehend that the lives of the villagers are far removed from theirs, so replete with the
comforts that the material world offers. The poet is saddened at the thought that the rural poor have
not been able to experience the satisfaction that comes from a feeling of well-being and
contentment. He feels that it would be easy to still these complaining voices once and for all by
changing the lives of the villagers but he questions the wisdom of this rash act.
Poetic Devices: The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab.
Transferred-Epithet:
1. ‘polished traffic’ referring to the city dwellers who pass by the countryside and sometimes they
take out a moment to scrutinize the surroundings around them.
2. ‘Selfish cars’ This refers to the car owners who do stop at the roadside stand but to ask about the
police or the gas stations.
 Personification:
“the sadness that lurks behind the open window there...” where sadness is an example of
personification. Sadness dwells in the windows of the farmers because they wait for cars to stop
and make a purchase.
Alliteration and Oxymoron: ‘Greedy good doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’ are
examples of both alliteration and oxymoron.

Reference to context:
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...

1. Why was the ‘little old house’ extended towards the road?
The little old house, the roadside stand, existed on the roadside to make a living out of the city
money. The owners of the roadside stand expected to attract the rich city men by extending the
stand closer to the road.

2. Which traffic is referred to here? Why are they ‘speeding?’

The traffic referred to here is the cars and other vehicles of the rich people from and to various
cities. These rich city men are in great hurry to make money by doing business in the city.

3. Why is the Stand's existence said to be ‘pathetic?’

The roadside stand's sole expectation is the flow of city-money into their hands. But their
expectations are never fulfilled as the rich men are not considerate about them and hence a pathetic
existence for the roadside stand.

ii) It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread

But for some of the city money, the cash, whose flow supports
The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint...

1. Why is it unfair to say that these people are begging for a ‘dole of bread?’
One may think that the poor people at the roadside stand are beggars. But they are not. Unlike the
beggars, the people of the roadside stand have something to sell.

2. What do the poor people really expect from the rich?

The poor people expect a small share of the money from the rich people.

3. How do the poor people look at the city money?

For the poor people at the roadside stand money is very essential for growth and survival. It boosts
the growth of the city and the city people.

4. What is the flower of the cities? How?

Prosperity/growth is the flower of the cities. As the flower is the crowning glory of a plant, growth
becomes the flower of a city.

iii) 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 with S turned wrong and N turned wrong...

1. What do you mean by ‘polished traffic?

Polished traffic portrays the insensitive attitude and gentlemanly appearances of the city-men. They
appear to be ‘polished’ outside but their minds do not understand the sufferings of the poor people.
2. Explain, ‘passed with a mind ahead.’
The city people who passed by the roadside stand were self-centred and their minds were restless
with greed for money and ambitions for great profits in their business.

3. What are the usual complaints made by the city men when they stop at the roadside stand?
Having failed to see the wretchedness of the poor, they complain that the roadside stand, with its
artless paint, ruined the beauty of the nature. Another complaint is that the letters are wrongly
written.

4. How did the poor people “mar” the landscape?

The poor people mar/ruin the beauty of the landscape by putting up on the roadside. Their houses
are painted in the most unprofessional manner with the most mismatching paint.

5. What does ‘of signs with S turned wrong and N turned wrong’ convey?
The Roadside STAND has an S and an N in Stand. The owner of the stand is illiterate so he has
erected the board with wrong spelling with S and N inverted.

iv) While greedy good doers, beneficent beasts of prey,

Swarm over their lives, enforcing benefits
That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits...

1. Who are the greedy good doers? What is the irony in the ‘greedy good-doers?’
The business class and the political parties and leaders are the greedy good-doers mentioned here. A
greedy person cannot be a good doer. These good doers intend to make money out of the poor people
by appearing beneficent to them.

2. What does ‘beneficent beast of prey’ imply?

Similar to ‘greedy good-doers, ‘the beneficent beasts of prey’ is also an indication to the greedy
people who make money in the name of social and political and charitable works.

3. How do the rich ‘enforce benefits’ on the poor?

The rich business people convince the poor of the advantages of their new schemes and promotions
and make them buy their products and be their customers.

4. Does this calculation work? How?

The business man's calculations work well as there is a more efficient brain behind all these
promises.These promises and offers are such a way calculated that the poor people cannot escape the
traps of the rich.
v) 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...

1. How do the poor people react to the squeal of brake in front of the roadside stand?
At the sound of the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car, the poor people at the stand feel their
spirits cheered at the possible arrival of a customer to buy their things.

2. Why are the cars called ‘selfish cars?

The cars are selfish because the people who travel in them are self centered.
3. What do you understand by ‘farmer's prices?’ Who want to know that? Possibly why?
Farmer's prices refer to the wages for which the farmer could be hired to work in the city. Farmer's
prices can also refer to the prices of the berries, squash and paintings displayed at the roadside stand for
sale.
4. What make you think that the city men stopped at the roadside stand?
To hire farmers to work in the city and that farmer's price refers to the per head wages to be paid to
a farmer for working in the city?
 vi) 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 to give us the life of the moving-pictures promise
That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.

1. . Who made a road side stand and where?

. The poor rural people made a roadside stand in their village that was far from city.

2. Who wanted to feel the money in hand?

The rural folk wanted to feel money in hand from the city folk.

3. Who hoped to be helped and by whom?

The rural folk hoped to be helped by the city people.

4. What was the promise made and who made it?

The promise was made to give a life a motion picture to the poor people. It was made by the
government

(vii)“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 stone,
Where 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 to sleep all day,
Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way”.

1.Who is going to exploit the rural people and how?

The politicians and the Government exploit the poor by offering them benefits that are supposed to solve their problems
but in reality only add or pose problems of a different nature thereby making them feel cheated.

2.How will the greedy good-doers soothe the rural poor out of their wits?
By offering them free benefits like housing and other facilities, they rob the poor of their voice to protest and lull them into
a feeling of false security

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. Why do the owners of the shed feel a sense of outrage?

The owners of the shed feel a sense of outrage because the city folk are only critical; they don't
understand their difficult situation and when it comes to spending money, they go ahead with their
head held high without purchasing anything.

2. What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it ‘vain’?
The ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to is the strong desire of the rural folks that the passers-
by should stop at their stand and purchase something from them so that they can also have a flow of
money. It is in vain because the city folk don't stop and even if they stop it is not to purchase
anything from them but to ask the route or gas or pull up the grass.

3. Why do car stop by, if do they stop at all at the road side stand ?
Sometimes a car stops near the Roadside Stand only to use the yard to back and turned round the
car. At other times one stops to ask if they can sell a gallon of gas. The purpose of these ‘Selfish
cars’ is not to buy something. They stop here only to serve their own interests.

4. What is the news being spread around?

The news is that the poor countryside people will be evicted from the place where they are living
and will be rehabilitated in some village. They will be provided the facilities such as- theatre and
store. All their problems will be solved and they will not have to think about anything.

5. Who will soothe the rural poor ‘out of their wits’ and how?
 The greedy people who pose themselves to be the well-wishers and beneficent will soothe the rural
poor ‘out of their wits’. They will hover over them showering all the benefits to convince them that
they mean well for them. But ultimately they will make a fool of them.

6. ‘The hurt to the scenery wouldn't be my complaint’, says Robert Frost. What is his real
complaint?
The real complaint of the poet is the sorrows and sufferings of the rural folks. The distastefully
painted and wrongly turned signboards do not bother him. He is more worried about the pitiable
condition of the poor people who long for city money.

7. Why do the people at the roadside stand talk ‘crossly’ with the rich people.?
The poor people sometimes become angry with the rich people. The latter refuse to buy the wild
berries at the stand at a price demanded by the owners of the stand. They indulge in bargain and
blame the berries and squash. But the poor, who know the rich people are so mean, grow angry at
their unwillingness to help them by parting with a little amount of their money.

Q8 What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
The village folk desired the city dwellers to buy goods ,wanted flow of cash for better standard of living

Q9 Why are the cars called ‘selfish ?

The poet uses a transferred epithet here. He actually means to say that the owners of the cars just pass by
without a thought for the plight of the stall owners

Q10.Who is anguished at the plight of the stand –owners? Why?

The poet, Robert Frost is anguished at the plight of the stand owner because the cars do stop occasionally
but the passengers have their own selfish motives to achieve.

Q11Why can't the poet bear the childish longing of the poor people?
The poet is a true humanitarian who is genuinely concerned for the poor people's misfortunes. He wants a
solution for their poverty. But seeing how childish their longings are, the poet feels it unbearable.

Q12What are the two significant roles of money in the lives of the poor people?
Money is the measuring rode of growth for the village people. They estimate their economic growth by
means of the small amount of money at hand. Similarly, money is necessary for a villager to feel confident.
He feels a ‘lift of spirit’ with money in reach