-Pablo Neruda
Text:
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Summary:
The poem "Keeping Quiet" written by Pablo Neruda discusses the need of maintaing peace and silence.He stresses upon being quiet and harmless to the humans,animals and environment.He suggests that in order to maintain peace and harmony.According to the poet,he thinks that we need to stop and introspect our deeds and ourselves!
Stanza-1(Now....so much):
In this stanza of the poem,the poet asks the entire mankind or humanity to count from twelve to one.Twelve being the number of hours shown in a clock.He wants everyone to stop and calm down.The poet urges everyone to stop and calm down.He requests his fellow beings not to speak any language as sometimes languages become barriers in our way to peace.So,he asks people not to speak.He also requests various nations not to move their 'arms' which means not to wage battles against each other.So,basically the poet is demanding peace from all of us.
Stanza-2(It would....hurt hands.):
The poet says that it would be a rare situation where there will be no engines working.Here,he wants to convey that he thinks it would be a different moment altogether if everything comes to a standstill.He expects that if such a situation arises,then it would be really interesting.For instance,the fisherman would stop chasing the whales.The workers would stop who collect salt
and whose hands are hurt.Here,the poet requests everyone to stop and see what they have gained or lost.He wants everyone to stop and see what they have gained or lost.He wants his readers to introspect their position and understand all their moves.
Stanza-3(Those who....truck with death):
He asks everyone to stop all the activities which are damaging the environment.Today,most of the humans are participating in various unfair practices which eventually causes irreparable loss to the environment.He asks people not to involve in wars and battles as there is no benefit of achieving triumph in which eventually nobody is left behind.The poet is of the opinion that it wars and environmental hazard will eventually and life on earth.He urges the people around him to adopt a new approach towards life.An approach we would promote peace and harmony.
Stanza-4(If we were.... ourselves with death):
Here, the poet clarifies that by asking his readers 'to stop',he doesn't want his readers to become non-active persons or idle individuals.He simply means that one should stop and introspect his/her deeds.The poet doesn't want anybody to perish because of his/her greed.According to him,most of the humans want to achieve most of the things before death because they fear death.Everybody on this planet is living a life in which one wants to continually achieve.The poet says that it is the time to stop and see what has been achieved and should be enjoyed.This will help us skip the sadness which has become so prominent in our lives.The sadness of not enjoying what we have gained is one of the greatest drawbacks of mankind.
Stanza-5(Perhaps the Earth....I will go):
Now,the poet suggests that we humans should learn from lessons from the Earth.During the winters,everything freezes and becomes lifeless.But,when season changes and its the onset of spring season,everything present in nature such as the trees,birds,rivers etc gets life.So,here,the poet by giving the example of nature wants to say that all the humans should stop and judge their deeds.They can try and make their life better with calmness.Finally,he ends up by saying that now he will count upto twelve so that we all may become quiet.After saying this he says,"I will go."He says so as he has conveyed his message to the people and wants them to be left alone to think about it and work in the direction of peace.
Difficult Words:
1)Exotic: Different and Unknown.
2)To have no truck with:Avoid dealing or being associated with it.
3)Green Wars:The war against the environment.
About Author:
Pablo Neruda is the pen name of Ricardo Eliécer Neftali Reyes Basoalto who was a Chilean
poet-diplomat.He was one of the few politicians who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.He became famous as a poet since he was 13 years old and wrote in myraid styles.
Poetic Devices:
1)Assonance:Use of vowel sounds 'o' and 'e' in the lines "Now we will count to twelve,not move our arms so much."
2)Anaphora:Two consecutive lines starting with the word 'Let's'.
3)Alliteration:'We would'-'W' sound is repeated.
4)Repetition:Use of word 'war'.
5)Enjambment:And for once could perhaps a huge silence...of threatening oursleves with death.
NCERT Questions:
A)Think it out.
1)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,binded by greed,are involved in wars and are also damaging the environment to satisfy their needs.Unfortunately,all of this is taking us towards our end.So,we need to think in order to achieve peace and harmony.
2)No,the poet doesn't advocate total inactivity and death.He clarifies this in the poem that he wants everyone to stop for a while in order to analyse their activities and their consequences.He wants humans not to support war and damage to the environment.
3)The poet has referred to the 'sadness' which is a result of our one's own actions and deeds.The poet is of the opinion that we all are in a hurry to achieve various tasks in our life.However, sometimes this hurry becomes fatal.Without analysing our deeds,we keep working,which eventually lands us in trouble.
4)The poet has taken the example of Earth to prove that there can be life under apparent stillness.The Earth never gets inactive.We experience the change in seasons which brings myraid changes with it.In winters,things come to a standstill as waterbodies freeze and the trees shed their leaves.But,as soon as the spring season comes,it brings with it various pleasant changes.Some of the changes,such as lovely flowers,flowing rivers gives a new life to nature.So,the poet wants us to remain calm but that shouldn't mean it will bring total inactivity and stillness.
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