1.Explain: ‘While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey.
Answer:
Robert Frost uses the alliteration ‘greedy good-doers to criticize people who in the guise of doing good are in fact exploitative. The so-called welfare schemes they impose are in fact deceptive and are a means to distract and lull them ‘out of their wits’ and make them lead mindless lives.

2.Explain: ‘Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way’.
Answer:
The villagers and rural folk who are slowly enticed by the city’s money-minded tendencies and greed lose sleep dreaming of superficial lifestyles. ‘Destroy their sleep at night the ancient way’ is a phrase that expresses the tendency of exploitative forces which conspire to make people toil all day with no time for rest and relaxation. Even at night, their sleep is destroyed because of the enticements that they are slowly drawn into.

3.What is ‘child’s longing’, according to the poet?
Answer:
Robert Frost feels disturbed by the ‘childish longing’ of the farmer who is waiting for just one commuter out of the thousand heartless ones that pass by to stop and buy some stuff. In a moment of complete despair on reflecting at the situation of the rural folk, he wishes that he could just once and for all put an end to their suffering, but then, realizes that if another person felt the same way about him during the times he was in pain, he would feel deeply hurt.