Answers for the Reference to Context Questions for A Roadside Stand
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,
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.
1. The words ‘pathetically pled’ means
a) In a bad condition
b) Impoverished condition
c) Begging for financial support
d) None of the above is correct.
2. Roadside stand refers to
a) A bus stop on a busy highway
b) A shop by the side of the highway
c) A shed for people to rest in
d) A parking lot for vehicles
3. The word ‘dole of bread’ refers to
a) A slice of bread
b) A gift of bread
c) Alms given in the form of bread
d) Charity or help
4. What prevents the flower of cities from withering?
a) Flow of water
b) Flow of electricity
c) Flow of energy
d) Flow of money
5. The figure of speech in the third line is
a) Irony
b) Enjambment
c) Hyperbole
d) Alliteration
6. The rhyme scheme in the above extract is
a) aa, aa, cd
b) aa, bb, cc
c) aa, bc, cd
d) aa, bc, dd
II. 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
You have the money, but if you want to be mean,
Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along.
1. What figures of speech do you find in the first line?
a) Transferred epithet and hyperbole
b) Transferred epithet and personification
c) Simile and oxymoron
d) Simile and metaphor
2. The expression, ‘polished traffic’ refers to
a) Rich and privileged people travelling in polished cars
b) Polished cars moving at great speed on the expressway
c) A busy traffic of polished, brand-new cars
d) None of the above is correct.
3. If at all the people noticed the roadside stand, it was to
a) buy something from the roadside stand
b) complain that it spoiled the landscape
c) remark that it looked rather quaint
d) revel in the beauty of the scene
4. A list of items for sale include
a) wild berries, wooden quarts, golden squash and a mountain
b) wild berries, golden squash and a picture of a mountain scene
c) wild berries, wooden quarts and silver warts
d) wild berries, crooked necked bottles of golden squash
5. Who is ‘you’ in the eighth line?
a) The poet, Robert Frost
b) The taxi-driver
c) People travelling in polished cars
d) None of above is correct
6. How is ‘you’ mean?
a) ‘You’ is not ready to stop and buy things.
b) ‘You’ is not ready to spend money at the roadside stand.
c) ‘You’ is not ready to stop at the roadside stand.
d) All of the above statements are correct.
III. 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.
1. The figure of speech in the second line is
a) Simile
b) Transferred epithet
c) Metaphor
d) Exaggeration
2. Who are ‘we’ in the third line?
a) Politicians
b) People driving by
c) People living in the cities
d) People in the countryside
3. The term ‘being expand’ expresses
a) A desire to lead a healthy life
b) A desire to be well fed
c) A desire for a better standard of living
d) All of the above are correct.
4. Who has given them ‘the moving pictures’ promise’?
a) The politicians
b) People in the Government
c) a) and b)
d) People living in the cities
5. What does the expression, ‘moving pictures’ promise’ mean?
a) The promise to show them lots of movies
b) The promise to open cinema halls
c) The promise of an ideal life
d) The promise to act in a film
6. What is the ‘party in power keeping from us’?
a) Good cinema halls, malls, and shopping arcades
b) Good food, entertainment, a movie kind of life
c) A life of prosperity, opportunities, and a good standard of living
d) None of the above statements is correct.
IV. 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 all day,
Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way.
1. What is in the news?
a) That the party in power is going to supply them with funds
b) That the Government is going to shift them to villages with all amenities
c) The Government is going to deport them to other countries
d) The Government is going to relocate them to the cities
2. What is the reason for the statement:
The Government’s plan for the ‘pitiful kin’ is disruptive and detrimental.
a) The people will lose their roadside stands.
b) The people will learn new vices and lose touch with their culture.
c) The people will live in a state of forgetfulness.
d) All of the above reasons are correct.
3. The figures of speech in the fifth line are
a) Oxymoron and Oxymoron
b) Antithesis and Irony
c) Metaphor and Simile
d) Hyperbole and Understatement
4. The phrase ‘benefits… to soothe them out of their wits’ means:
a) Benefits that are calculated to stop them from thinking.
b) Benefits that are supposed to put their minds to sleep.
c) Benefits that are meant to divert their minds from reality.
d) All of the above statements are correct.
5. The expression, ‘ancient way’ refers to:
a) Accepted norms, culture and tradition
b) The way they have been living for ages
c) Both a) and b) are correct
d) Only a) is correct
6. The words, ‘mercifully gathered’ is ironic because:
a) It suggests kindness on the part of the Government
b) It suggests that the Government is concerned about them.
c) It hints that the Government has ulterior motives.
d) It hints that the Government is going to help them out.
V. 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); they had none, didn’t it see?
1. The poet cannot bear the thought of_____
a) the sadness of longing for something beyond their reach.
b) running a roadside stand
c) how trusting and naïve they are.
d) Both a) and b) are correct
2. The figure of speech in the third line is ______ and the evidence is _____
a) Personification sadness…lurks
b) Metaphor sadness
c) Imagery open window
d) None of the above is correct
3. What are the people in the roadside stand waiting for?
a) A squeal of brakes indicates people stopping to buy things from them.
b) People stopping at the roadside stand.
c) People in shiny cars stopping to talk to them.
d) All of the above statements are correct.
4. The figure of speech in the sixth line is_____ and it brings out _______
a) Metaphor greed insensitivity
b) Personification selfishness
c) Imagery hurriedness
d) Oxymoron thousand…cars
5. The first car that stopped at the roadside stand did so in order to
a) Buy some things.
b) Inquire about farmer’s prices
c) Make a U-turn
d) Ask directions
6. One reason why the poet has used cars as metaphor for human beings is because
a) he feels they are insensitive and apathetic
b) he feels they are so busy that they don’t notice the roadside stand
c) he feels they are less human or even de-humanized
d) all of the above are correct.
VI. 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 to the sane,
I wonder how I should like you to come to me
And offer to put me gently out of my pain.
1. According to the first line, what has never been found?
a) The ideal amount of money to make a person happy.
b) The amount of money that puts you in the category of the rich
c) The amount of money to enjoy life
d) None of the above is correct.
2. What does the voice of the country seem to be complaining about?
a) Not having resources and means to live a healthy life.
b) Not having enough food to eat.
c) Not having enough clothes to wear.
d) Not having enough money.
3. What would give the narrator great relief?
a) To be with these people
b) To share their pain and suffering
c) To put them out of their trouble
d) None of the above is correct
4. The pronoun ‘you’ refers to:
a) The people running the roadside stand
b) The people in the Government
c) The reader
d) The politician
5. The mood of the narrator in the above extract is
a) Happy
b) Optimistic
c) Pessimistic
d) Hopeful
6. The narrator comes up with a solution that is
a) formed in a fit of anger and rage
b) formed rather impulsively
c) formed after careful thought
d) both a) and b) are correct.
