CBSE NCERT Class XII English Flamingo Poem – KEEPING QUIET
ABOUT THE POET – PABLO NERUDA
Pablo Neruda (12 July 1904-23 September 1973) is the pen name of Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He is a Chilean poet and politician. He was born in the town of Parral in Chile. His poems are full of easily understood images. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in the year 1971.He wrote in green ink which was his personal symbol for desire and hope. His writings are simple, wherein lies their beauty. He died on 23 September 1973 (aged 69) Santiago, Chile. Some of his works are – The Book of Questions ,Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, I Explain a Few Things: Selected Poems, All the Odes, The Captain’s Verses & Love Poems.
Introduction – KEEPING QUIET
The poem, Keeping Quiet is originally written in Spanish and translated into English. This poem describes the importance of mindfulness, introspection and retrospection because they lead to unity , peace and brotherhood. Man has become very selfish and his own actions cause him many problems and miseries. Today’s world stands divided by the man-made boundaries of caste, creed, race, religion, language, culture, nationality and geographical divisions which are the reasons of war and destruction. We need to rise above these narrow mindedness and try to create a peaceful world. In this poem, the poet urges us to introspect the solution to the social, political and religious problems to understand ourselves and shape destiny properly.
KEEPING QUIET –THEME
“Keeping Quiet” talks about the necessity of quiet introspection and creating a feeling of understanding among human beings. He suggests that if everybody for a little while ceases to do what he is doing, there is a chance that we can save the world for in that moment of silence and inactivity, we would all be one. There would be togetherness – oneness that is most desirable for the survival of earth and of human beings divided by regions, cultures, languages and personal motivations each one of us in pursuing one’s own goal without seeing the larger picture.
KEEPING QUIET – SUMMARY
The poet requests us to keep quiet till he counts up to twelve. The poet urges us not to speak in any language of the world- verbally and non-verbally and wants us to stop for sometimes and not to move our arms for any work.
When each of us becomes still and silent , then it will be a very unusual and strange situation. There will be no any type of rush. And engines and machines will stop for a moment so that pollution can be prevented. All of us shall enjoy the sudden strangeness of the moment together.
The poet says that in such rare moment, the fishermen would stop harming the whales in the cold sea. Thus, no one will kill any animal and destroy the environment. Even the man who gathers salt will find some time to look at his hurt hand so that he can take care of his hurt hands.
All types of wars like war against environment and nature, wars with poisonous gases and war with fire arms will stop for some moment. In such types of wars , victory is meaningless because there are no survivors left after war. In this silence situation, people will come out in their best dresses ,in spite of fighting and waging war. They will go out for a walk with their relatives. They will also move about under the shady trees and enjoy brotherhood without doing anything.
The poet does not want that we should not confuse ‘ stillness’ with total inactivity. Doing nothing at all will increase the amount of death. The poet does not have any association with death. The poet says that we have to understand the actual purpose of life. Life is not to involve in war to destroy humanity and environment but to live peacefully and to move about. We should not always on the move. For a while we should also take rest. A long silence can do us a lot of good. Men become sad when they fail to understand themselves. They feel helpless when they threaten themselves with death. A long silence can soothe our feelings and help us in removing this sadness.
The poet represents the idea of ‘ stillness’ with an example from nature. The earth can teach us a lesson in reference with total inactivity. When everything seems dead, the earth remains alive.
The poet again urges us to keep quiet till he counts twelve. Then he will go .
KEEPING QUIET – TEXT
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the Earth
let’s not speak in any language, let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines, We would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire, victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity. Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death. If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving, and for once could perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the Earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
KEEPING QUIET – CENTRAL IDEA
The poet suggests that we all commit ourselves to complete silence and inactivity for some space and observe the miraculous consequences of the same. In the absence of hustle and bustle of life, there would be feeling of peace and quietness. The idea that a fisherman would not harm the whale is only a metaphor for the thought that human beings would not destroy nature and wars would cease. The whole question of wars, winners and survivor would become null and void. Love and brotherhood would prevail and there would be harmony between man and nature. The poet does not advocate total inactivity or death but regrets the fact in our single-minded desire to keep our lives active we reach a stage when we have no leisure either to understand ourselves or our fellow beings. This is a sad state of affairs and results in the imbalance between man and nature. This imbalance is dangerous and our survival would rest upon our ability to comprehend and divert this. This comprehension can only be attained by introspecting deeply in silence. So the poet tells the reader to proceed to observe the silence.
KEEPING QUIET – Difficult words / New words
- Exotic – Strange & unusual
- Rush – Hurry
- Engines – Machines
- Green wars – Wars against nature or environment
- Survivors – Persons who continues to live after experiencing great danger
- Clean clothes – Clothes without any stain
- In the shade – Under the trees
- Confused with – Mistaken for
- Inactivity – Not doing anything
- Want no truck with – Refuse to deal with
- Single- minded – Focusing only on one thing / Selfish
- Interrupt – Stop
- Threatening – Putting at risk
KEEPING QUIET – IMPORTANT PHRASES
Twelve – there are 12 hours in a clock and 12 months in an year. It is a measure of time.
Let’s not speak in any language – the poet means that nothing should be spoken , either verbally or non- verbally . so that there is no misunderstanding .
Not move our arms– it means that we should be still and not make any movement. Arms refers to weapons and the arms in the human body
Keeping quiet – the poet wants us to keep quiet so that we can discontinue our activities. This silence will give us time to introspect the solution to the social, political and religious problems to understand ourselves and shape destiny properly.
Hurt hands – it imply the destruction that humans have caused to themselves and the environment in pursuit of their selfish needs.
What will counting upto twelve and keeping still help us achieve ? – If we count upto twelve and keep still, it will give us some time to analyse our deeds. It will allow us some moments to think about the result of our activities. People in the world are involved in wars and are also damaging the environment in order to achieve their aims. Unfortunately this is taking all of us toward our own end. So, we need to think in order to achieve
peace and harmony.
Total inactivity and death– the poet doesn’t advocate total inactivity and death. He clarifies this in his poem that he wants all the people to just stop for a while in order to analyze their activities and their consequences. He wants human beings not to support war and damage to the environment.
Symbol from Nature – The poet takes the example of earth to prove that there can be life under apparent stillness. The earth never gets inactive. We experience the change in the seasons which brings so many different things with it. In winters, things come to a standstill as the water bodies freeze; the trees shed their leaves, etc. But as soon as the spring season comes, it brings with it the lovely flowers, flowing rivers and a new life is given to the nature. So, the poet wants to convey that we should stay calm but that doesn’t mean that it will bring total inactivity and stillness.
‘Sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem- The sadness is the result of our own actions and deeds. According to the poet we all are in a hurry of achieving various tasks in our life. This rush sometimes proves dangerous for us. As we don’t analyse our actions, so we land ourselves in a number of problems. These problems then become the reason for our sadness as referred to in the poem.
POETIC DEVICES-
Anaphora : we will, let’s
Alliteration : so single-minded, We were, sudden strangeness, hurt hands, clean clothes
Repetition : without rush, without engines
Pun : arms (literally moving arms, picking up arms for a war, or being restless)
Personification : face of the Earth, the Earth can teach us
Synecdoche : twelve, fishermen, whales, brothers
Metaphor : clean clothes, shade
Euphemism : no truck with death
Irony : victory with no survivors
Enjambment : lines run on from one to the next to complete the sentence
without a punctuation mark at the end of the line
QUESTIONS – ANSWERS –
Q.1 Why does the poet say that for once let us all keep quiet and cease activity?
Ans– He says so as it is the only way that we can actually introspect and in doing so we understand the need to strike a balance between man and nature.
Q.2 What does he refer to as an exotic moment?
Ans- It is the moment of inactivity. The absence of strain caused by hustle and bustle of life would make the moment exotic.
Q.3. What does the fisherman not harming the whales signify?
Ans- The fisherman not harming the whales is only a metaphor for humans not harming nature for their own selfish needs.
Q.4 How can the idea of wars and the vanquished be negated?
Ans– In the moment of silence and inactivity, there would be a feeling of amity and brotherhood and all wars would cease. The question of wars, speculation of winners and survivor of wars would become null and void.
Q.5 How do we know that the poet is not advocating complete inactivity and death?
Ans – He only lament the fact that in our busy schedule to make our lives active we reach a stage when have no leisure either to understand ourselves or fellow human beings.
Q.6.What is the sadness that the poet refers to?
Ans- He only laments the fact that in our busy schedule to make our lives active we reach a stage when we have no leisure either to understand ourselves or fellow human beings, this is the sad state of affairs.
Q.7. What symbol from nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under apparent stillness?
Ans- Nature has a lesson to teach us. Winter is the season when all appears to be dead and inactive but it is not really so. In spring which follows winter every thing comes alive again.
Q.8 What does the poet mean by “doing nothing”?
Ans – Int means a few moments of quiet though and introspection during which man may be able to understand and see the larger picture of life.
Q.9 What will counting up to 12 and keeping still help us achieve?
Ans- It will assist in attaining a state of peace in which we will be able to introspect and appreciate the benefits of symbiotic relationship between man and nature.
PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS (for practice)-
- According to the poet, what is it that human beings can learn from Nature?
- Why is Pablo Neruda against ‘total inactivity’?
- Which sadness is Pablo Neruda worried about in his poem?
- Do you think the poet, Pablo Neruda advocates total inactivity and death? Why/ Why not?
- How does stopping for a second help us, according to the poet, Pablo Neruda?
- How can suspension of activities help?
- Which sadness is Pablo Neruda referring to?
- What are the different kinds of wars mentioned in the poem?
- How, according to Neruda, can keeping quiet change our attitude to life?
- Which images in the poem, “Keeping Quiet” show that the poet condemns violence?
- What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us achieve?
- Which symbol from nature does the poet invoke that there can be life under apparent stillness?
- What is the sadness that the poet, Pablo Neruda refers to in the poem ‘Keeping Quiet’?
- What is Neruda’s attitude towards these wars?