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    Study Material - KEEPING QUIET

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    Aakif Raza
    The document discusses the poem "Keeping Quiet" by Pablo Neruda. It provides background information on Neruda and an introduction to the poem, noting how it dwells on the lost quality of silence. Links are included to view a presentation on the poem, watch a film on silence, hear the poem recited, and take a quiz. Key points from the poem are summarized, including how Neruda advocates for silence to promote understanding between all people and end various destructive wars. Figures of speech in the poem are also explained.

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    Study Material - KEEPING QUIET

    Uploaded by

    Aakif Raza
    328 views4 pages
    The document discusses the poem "Keeping Quiet" by Pablo Neruda. It provides background information on Neruda and an introduction to the poem, noting how it dwells on the lost quality of silence. Links are included to view a presentation on the poem, watch a film on silence, hear the poem recited, and take a quiz. Key points from the poem are summarized, including how Neruda advocates for silence to promote understanding between all people and end various destructive wars. Figures of speech in the poem are also explained.

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    The document discusses the poem "Keeping Quiet" by Pablo Neruda. It provides background information on Neruda and an introduction to the poem, noting how it dwells on the lost quality of silence. Links are included to view a presentation on the poem, watch a film on silence, hear the poem recited, and take a quiz. Key points from the poem are summarized, including how Neruda advocates for silence to promote understanding between all people and end various destructive wars. Figures of speech in the poem are also explained.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    328 views4 pages

    Study Material - KEEPING QUIET

    Uploaded by

    Aakif Raza
    The document discusses the poem "Keeping Quiet" by Pablo Neruda. It provides background information on Neruda and an introduction to the poem, noting how it dwells on the lost quality of silence. Links are included to view a presentation on the poem, watch a film on silence, hear the poem recited, and take a quiz. Key points from the poem are summarized, including how Neruda advocates for silence to promote understanding between all people and end various destructive wars. Figures of speech in the poem are also explained.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    THE INDIAN SCHOOL

    ENGLISH CORE (301)

    CLASS 12 (2019-20)

    TEXTBOOK: FLAMINGO

    POEM 3:

    ABOUT THE POET

    Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by
    his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda was a Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet-
    diplomat and politician. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old, and wrote in
    a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a
    prose autobiography, and passionate love poems such as the ones in his collection Twenty Love
    Poems and a Song of Despair (1924). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

    Neruda is often considered the national poet of Chile, and his works have been popular and
    influential worldwide. The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him "the
    greatest poet of the 20th century in any language", and Harold Bloom included Neruda as one of
    the 26 writers central to the Western tradition in his book The Western Canon.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda
    1
    INTRODUCTION TO THE POEM

    Keeping Quiet is a splendid poem by Pablo Neruda that dwells on a quality that seems to have
    been lost in the buzz of the 21st century- the quality of silence. In an age that accepts rush as a
    celebratory gesture, Keeping Quiet is a gentle reminder of what life can be like in a brief moment
    of a silent pause.  This message instantly resonates in the digital age where “switching off” has
    become a much-needed life hack.  The theme of quietude and stillness is accompanied by the
    themes of peace, pacifism, fellowship, solidarity, brotherhood, justice and ecological
    conservation. To keep quiet is to stay still and understand that one is a thread, woven within the
    exquisite fabric of the cosmic order. It is to identify oneself with all and in doing so, escape the
    “sadness of never understanding ourselves”. To keep quiet is to escape the death with which we
    threaten ourselves and for once, truly and genuinely, live.

    [Source: https://www.litbug.com/2018/12/03/summary-and-analysis-of-keeping-quiet-by-pablo-
    neruda/]

    LINK TO THE PPT SHOWN IN CLASS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ADTrwtWji0

    UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF SILENCE

    Watch the movie ‘In Pursuit of Silence’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64c_1MtQUlM

    Hear the poem Keeping Quiet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5lMnyYF_PM


    SUMMARY

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp1aQv53Q00&t=27s

    CROSSWORD

    https://crosswordlabs.com/view/keeping-quiet-5

    QUIZ

    https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/60d7e5773438c2001b8b8e17/keeping-quiet

    GIST OF THE POEM

     The poet talks about the need for silence and quiet introspection and the importance of
    quietude and calmness. He also talks about creating a feeling of mutual understanding
    and universal brotherhood among human beings.
     The poet asks us to keep still and count up to twelve. He also asks us to sit still. For a
    moment we should not speak any language. We should not move our arms so much.

    2
     It will be a moment of complete silence without rush or worry. This would be an exotic
    moment.
     Then a sudden strangeness will prevail which we will all enjoy. It will be bliss.
     The fisherman would not harm the whales in the cold sea. Even the man gathering salt
    would stop working and look at his hurt hands and reflect on the pain and harm his
    strenuous task has caused him.
     All kinds of wars must be stopped at once. The green wars against the environment, wars
    with poisonous gases, and firearms, must be stopped at once.
     People who are all the time preparing for wars leaving no survivors behind ought to find
    time to wear clothes and walk around with their brothers strengthening the message of
    peace and brotherhood.
     At the same time, the poet cautions not to confuse stillness with total inactivity. Life is an
    ongoing process and should not be associated with death. It is to be lived with a positive
    attitude.
     He does not want us to ruminate over death.
     But he feels that if for once we do not focus on ourselves single-mindedly to keep our
    lives moving but do some introspection or spend some time in silence doing nothing, we
    can understand ourselves better and escape from the threatening calls of death.
     The earth can teach us a lesson about how everything comes to a dead end and comes to
    life again.
     In the same manner, a quiet introspection can bring all anger, hatred and evil thoughts to
    an end and bring in a new life of peace and tranquillity.
     Now the poet will count up to twelve and they should keep quiet and he will go.

    EXPLANATION OF IMPORTANT WORDS AND PHRASES

    1. Significance of the number ‘twelve’ - a measure of time

    2. Pun on the word ‘arms’ - it is both a body part and a reference to weapons

    3. ‘A huge silence’ refers to a moment of quiet and stillness created together by all people.

    4. ‘Green wars’ imply wars against nature by causing environmental degradation.

    5. ‘Sudden strangeness’ because it will be a sudden and unexpected moment/ a strange


    experience

    6. ‘Exotic moment’ refers to a unique instant/ beautiful moment of thoughtful silence

    7. ‘Fishermen’ symbolise vested interests (greedy men) who exploit and destroy nature.

    8. ‘Put on clean clothes’ symbolize a change of heart/ cleansing the soul of all anger, hatred
    and ill-will.

    9. ‘Victory with no survivors’ is a reminder of the futility of war.


    3
    10. ‘Life is what it is about; I want no truck with death’ - The poet does not advocate death
    because life is an ongoing process.

    11. ‘Earth’ teaches us that under apparent stillness, there is life.

    12. ‘In the shade’ implies a cool, serene and soothing state of mind

    FIGURES OF SPEECH

    ALLITERATION- sudden strangeness/hurt hands/clean clothes/we would/wars with/we will

    METAPHOR- put on clean clothes/in the shade

    REPETITION- without rush, without engines

    IMAGERY- cold sea

    ANTITHESIS- count to twelve and we will all keep still

    PERSONIFICATION- Perhaps the Earth can teach us

    IRONY- victory with no survivors

    Answer the following questions in 40 words (2 Marks).

    1. Why does Pablo Naruda urge us to keep still?


    2. ’Under the apparent stillness, there is life’. Justify.
    3. Why do men become sad? How can this sadness be overcome?
    4. Why shouldn’t we speak any language and move our arms so much?
    5. How does the poet distinguish ‘stillness’ from ‘total inactivity’? Explain.
    6. “I want no truck with death.” Explain.
    7. What are the various wars mentioned? What is the result of these wars?
    8. What would be the result of quietude?

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