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Keeping Quiet

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24 views3 pages

Keeping Quiet

Uploaded by

jeansmom944
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Keeping Quiet notes

Keeping Quiet is a poem about the power of introspection


and silence. Here, the poet Pablo Neruda asks people to
introspect and keep their minds still for just twelve
seconds so that they can introspect their actions, their
behavior, and their deeds. It is specifically for the people
who indulge in brutal activities such as killing wildlife,
conducting wars, and much more. The poem beautifully
describes what introspection can do to the minds of
people and how is it good to stop the bad deeds.

About the author:


Pablo Neruda is the author of CBSE Class 12 English
Flamingo Poetry Chapter 2, Keeping Quiet. Neftali Ricardo
Reyes Basoalto is the real name of Pablo Neruda. He was
born in the town of Parral in Chile. He won the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1971. Neruda is known for simplistic and
easily understandable pictures used in his poems that
enhance the essence of the poem and are simply
beautiful.

Theme of the Poem


The poem is about the art of introspection and the
creation of mutual understanding among human beings.
Introspection deals with acknowledging oneself and trying
to understand the bad and good in oneself. The poet
wants human beings to observe their deeds and create a
clear distinction between right and wrong. According to
him, introspection is the answer to the brutality and lack
of humanness in human beings.

Keeping Quiet Summary


Keeping quiet is all about introspection. It wants to deliver
a clear message to the people that introspection can
serve as a method to understanding the brutality caused
by them and how can they stop engaging in such acts.
The poet wishes to say that introspection can be easily
done by everyone. It just takes a count to twelve and
silence to introspect. The poet says that he will count to
twelve and all he wants is everyone to shut their eyes
and sit in silence and stay still. He wants everybody to
not be involved in any form of communication for a few
seconds and keep still. By any language, he means the
mental communication that one is involved in through
their thoughts.
He thinks of a situation when everything would be still,
there would be the sound of the engines, or no
movement of your body, and all of them together would
be in a world that is exactly opposite to ours and this
world would be a strange place.
The poet believes that for this moment, the world will be
free from animal brutality. No fishermen will harm any
whales. And people will stare at the pains and bruises
they have garnered by working for the people of this
planet.
People from the war will for ones undress their dirty
clothes filled with the sweat and blood of innocent people
and wear the clothes of normal people to be friends with
them or understand them for at least a moment.
Neruda says that he does not want this activity to be
confused with total inactivity. Because he wants us to
understand certain things and introspect. Introspection
involves thoughtfulness. Total inactivity can’t be counted
as one. He wants only bad activities to be stopped for
that moment such that people can introspect. He says
that inactivity will refer to death but he is talking about
the importance of life at the moment. The poet says that
he wants all humans to take a break from the routinized
and constant mobility in our lives and take this break so
that the silence will interrupt our actions and make us
wait and think.
He further compares the activity with the functioning of
the earth. He says that winter comes and makes Earth
pale and dull, which is the representation of sadness and
death. But it lives again when spring hits and flowers and
trees start blooming and you start to see the greenery all
around. The same goes for introspection. During the
process, things might appear dull as winter, but once it is
completed, the flowers will bloom again.

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