Poetry Chapter 3 - Keeping Quiet

Keeping Quiet is written by the Nobel Prize-winning poet from Chile- Pablo Neruda. The poem, originally written in Spanish, expresses through easy imagery the need for calmness and tranquillity for self-introspection, consciousness and retrospection. The poet makes a fervent appeal to stop whatever it is that we are doing and together enjoy a moment of perfect stillness- void of the barriers of languages.

At UrbanPro, students can find the chapter summary, poetic analysis as well as Keeping Quiet NCERT Solutions.

Summary

The poet asks the entire human race to stop every action and start slowly counting from one to twelve. Twelve is a significant number- being the total number of Zodiac Signs, the number of months in the calendar or the number of hours in a clock. He suggests that the moment of perfect stillness will be unique and individual as no one has ever done it before.

Throughout the poem, the poet expresses the feeling of exhilaration when the entire humanity will not be engaged in any acts of cruelty or torture. The fishermen will not be harming the whales. The salt gathered will have the time to look at their hurt hands. People harming the environment will not be able to do so. Soldiers and mercenaries- busy preparing for war, glory shall be doing nothing. The victory based on the deaths of countless civilian lives would cease to matter anymore. For once there would be total peace. The ideals of universal fraternity shall be finally reached- as not a single person will be harming one another or the environment.

In the later part of the poem, the poem tells us not to confuse his ideas of stillness with total inactivity. He wishes of a world with no wars and peace. He does not want to see trucks laden with the bodies of dead or injured persons who are labelled as casualties of war. He thinks that in a moment of absolute silence, we might be able to understand ourselves better and not participate in the act of war with other nations. He asks us not to be single-mindedly focussed on moving on with life. One should instead cherish and celebrate life than threatening others with death and dire consequences.

The poet reminds us of the need for serenity. He believes it is only through a serene and still environment that we can realise the real objectives in our lives and progress from there. Like nature renews itself each time during the change of a season, the human soul will be reborn right from this moment of quiet. He ends the poem by revealing that he will start count to 12- urging the reader to keep quiet.

Poetic Analysis

The entire poem was initially written in Spanish and later translated to English. It is in the free verse pattern.

We at UrbanPro strive to help the students better themselves. Find accurate Keeping Quiet NCERT Questions and Answers. You can also download NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Keeping Quiet, for better understanding.