The government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor rural people, but they actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show their double standards.
Robert Frost says that the city good-doers, other social agencies and the government do them no good. They all make very attractive promises. They are indifferent towards their promise to settle them. Their promises are like the moving pictures for them that don’t improve their lot. They swarm around the poor villagers, destroy their peace and night sleep. Their double standard is evident from -
“While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey
Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits. That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits.”
What is the childish longing that the poet refers to? Why is it vain?
The city folk who 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?
What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
Or
Why do the people who had put up the roadside stand want some city money to fell in hand?
Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?
