Keeping Quiet

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda, an American poet

Pablo Neruda’s Profile

He was born in 1904 in Parral, Chile, South America. His father was a railway employee and his mother was a teacher. He Studied in the University of Chile. He won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. In this poem, Neruda talks about the necessity of quiet introspection and creating a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings.

Pablo Neruda recording his poetry at the US Library of Congress in 1966

• Profile

Pablo’s first residence in Valparaiso, Chile

Pablo’s second residence in Santiago, Chile

University of Chile where Pablo studied

Universidad de Chile (in Chile Language)

Other works

1. Bird

2. A Dog has Died

3. A Lemon

4. A Song of Despair

5. Absence

6. Brown and Agile Chile

7. Cat’s Dream

Theme

Necessity of quiet introspection and creating a feeling of mutual understand among human beings.

Sub - Theme

Horror of war and how they affect the

World peace.

Main idea of the poem

In our present day fast-moving lifestyle, we people are least concerned about our own inner self and instead keep finding faults in others. We fail to understand our fellow-beings and in its place, we develop hatred towards them. Today, we have reached a stage where we need to find the cause of sadness and the void that has filled the major part of our life. Our lives today are all about wars and misunderstandings, because we have no time to look within and introspect.

Keeping Quiet – Reading

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.

Keeping Quiet - ReadingFishermen 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 not 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.

Keeping Quiet - ReadingLife is what it is about;I want no truck with death.If we were not so single-mindedabout keeping our lives moving,perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadnessof never understanding ourselvesand of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the Earth can teach us

as when everything seems dead

and proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count to twelve

and you keep quiet and I will go.

Pronunciation

1. Exotic

2. Moment

3. Strangeness

4. Gathering

5. Survivors

6. Inactivity

7. Truck

8. Single-minded

9. Interrupt

10. Threatening

Stanza - I

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.

Stanza – I Question

1. What does the poet ask people to do?

2. Why did he ask the people to do so?

3.What will counting upto twelve and

keeping still, help us achieve?

Stanza – I Answers

1. The poet asks people to keep quiet to a count of twelve seconds without talking and moving.

2. He asked them to do so, so that they can meditate and introspect.

3. I will help us achieve peace and stop wars.

Stanza - II

It would be an exotic moment

Without rush, without engines,

We would all be together

In a sudden strangeness.

Stanza – II Questions

1. What would be an exotic moment?

2. Why would it be and exotic moment?

3. Why would there be a sudden strangeness?

4. What do you mean by ‘exotic moment’?

Stanza – II Answers

1. The moment everything would be still and quiet would be an exotic moment.

2. It would be an exotic moment because during this time man would not be hurrying and rushing about and there would be total silence.

3. There would be a sudden strangeness because man understands the feelings of his fellow-beings and the peace would envelop everyone.

4. Man gets used to live in a busy and hurry world. He never gets a chance of living a peaceful life and never understands his fellow-beings.

Stanza- III

Fishermen in the cold sea

Would not harm whales

And the man gathering salt

Would look at his hurt hands.

Blue whale in the cold sea which are killed in large number

Caching whale by harpooning with a missile gun

The Harpoon reaching the Whale

Into the blue ... hunters from the Indonesian island of Lembata catch 20-metre whales using traditional harpoons and boats, with techniques that

date back centuries.

Whale is lifted up after harpooning

The caught whale is under the process of taking its fats

The skeleton of a whale in a museum

Fascinating facts of whales• Blue whales grow to be about 94 feet (20 m) long on average,

weighing about 174 tons (158 tonnes). The females are larger than males. It has a heart that weighs about 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and has 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) of blood circulating in its body. The heart is about the size of a Volks wagon bug car. A human could crawl through the aorta (a major blood vessel).

• The blue whale has about 320 pairs of black baleen plates with dark gray bristles jaws. They are about 39 inches long (1 m), 21 inches wide (53 cm), and weigh 200 pounds (90 kg). The tongue weighs 4 tons (3.8 tonnes).

• An average-sized blue whale will eat 2,000-9,000 pounds (900-4100 kg) of plankton each day during the summer feeding season in cold, arctic waters ( about 120 days).

• Blue whales are very fast swimmers; they normally swim 3-20 mph (4.8-32 kph). Its sound can be heard around three kilometers in the sea.

• Blue whales have a life expectancy of 35-40 years.

People gathering salt in the salt yard

Men gathering salt from the saline water

Men standing in the middle of gathered salt

Stanza – III Questions

1. What do fishermen in the cold sea do?

2. What do the fishermen do when they are not quiet and do not introspect?

3. What is the man gathering salt forced to do?

Stanza – III Answers

1. Fishermen in the cold sea catch fish and in particular the whales.

2. The fishermen in the cold sea endanger the environment by catching whales.

3. He keeps collecting a large amount of salt forgetting to even examine the pain he is causing to himself.

Stanza - IV

Those who prepare green wars,

Wars with gas, wars with fire,

Victory with not survivors,

Would put on clean clothes

And walk about with their

Brothers

In the shade, doing nothing.

Green war- war with the environment

Green wars – war with environment

Soldiers fighting the War with poison gas

Horse and soldier with Gas Masks to escape poison gas

War with fire - fighter planes being shot in the sky

War with fire – soldiers pointing their guns toward their enemies

Stanza – IV Questions

1. What do mean by ‘green wars’?

2. Who prepares green wars?

3. What are green wars with gas and fire?

4. Explain ‘victory with no survivors’.

Stanza – IV Answers

1. It means wars against nature and environment.

2. Politicians and scientists prepare green wars.

3. Wars with gas and fire refer to the chemical and nuclear weapon.

4. Man fights for victory, but this victory would be of no use as there would be no survivors to celebrate his victory.

Stanza - V

What I want should not be

confused

with total inactivity.Life is what it is about;I want no truck with death.

Stanza – V Questions

1. What does the poet want the people to do?

2. What does the poet mean by ‘total inactivity’?

3. What is life all about?

4. Explain ‘ I want no truck with death’?

Stanza – V Answers

1. The poet wants people to stop all destructive activities, meditate, introspect and realise their mistakes.

2. He means a period of time in which nothing is done worthwhile.

3. Life is continuous process. It must go on.

4. The poet says that when speaks about silence and introspection, it should not be associated with death. He does not want to say that.

Stanza - VI

If we were not so single-mindedabout keeping our lives moving,perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadnessof never understanding ourselvesand of threatening ourselves withdeath.

Stanza - VI Questions

1. What do you mean by ‘single-minded’?

2. How will a huge silence interrupt this sadness?

3. Explain ‘this sadness of never understanding ourselves’.

4. How do we threaten ourselves with death?

Stanza – VI Answers1. It is thinking selflessly only about one’s personal

achievements and progress without involving anyone.

2. In huge silence one will stop all his destructive activities. He is then forced to think and introspect and helps himself free from sadness.

3. Man in his pursuit for personal gain has forgotten his emotional needs. This continuous mindless activity leaves him sad and lonely.

4. Man indulges himself in destructive activities and this activities can be responsible for his death.

Stanza - VII

Perhaps the Earth can teach us

As when everything seems dead

And later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count twelve

And you keep quiet and I will go.

Stanza – VII Questions

1. Who can teach us a lesson?

2. What lesson can mother earth teach us?

3. Compare the first two lines and the last two lines of the poem?

Stanza – VII Answers

1. Our mother earth can teach us a lesson.

2. Mother earth rejuvenate even after total annihilation. New life emerges from the dead remains. Man can also start a new life even after total destruction.

3. In the first two lines, the poet involves himself by using the word ‘we’, but in the last two lines, by using the word ‘I’, he leaves the decision to the reader.

Figure of speech

Alliteration:

It is the repeated beginning sound of two or three words.

we will

we would

sudden strangeness

hurt hands

wars with

clean clothes

Assignments1. Why does Pablo Neruda urge us to

keep still?

2. Justify the title ‘Keeping Quiet’.

THANK YOU