CBSE Class 12 English Keeping Quiet Worksheet Set B

About the Poet
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet-diplomat and politician Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. He derived his pen name from the Czech poet Jan Neruda. Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Theme
The poet, Pablo Neruda, urges mankind to cease all activity for a little while. During these few moments of silence and inactivity, all human beings would be one, united, and in harmony with each other and nature. This togetherness and oneness is most desirable for the survival of the Earth and of human beings. Neruda believes that the soul housed within the human body is capable of performing this feat if given a chance to shine out through introspection, for which absolute silence and stillness is essential.

Form
Keeping Quiet is written in blank verse and has no rhyme scheme.

Justification of the Title
The title itself suggests that the poet emphasises the importance of silence. Pablo Neruda urges mankind to cease all activity and to introspect. It is necessary to introspect so that we realise that we must stop the killing, the destruction and the harm that we are creating. He encourages his readers to live together in peace and harmony.

Message
‘Keeping Quiet’ leaves a message of universal brotherhood and peace. It urges people to stop all sorts of aggression, including that towards the environment. If we think of ourselves as the hands of the clock on the face of this Earth, moving in our routine ways, won’t it be a good thing to stop at twelve and do some introspection?

Summary
The poet urges people to get into a mode of total inactivity for some seconds. There should only be silence, no movement and a mood of introspection. He condemns the mundane activities. He says that we should not indulge in any mindless activity or speak in any language, nor does he want any gestures of arms that can distract or disturb. He says that we should commit ourselves to complete silence and inactivity. He appeals to the readers to keep quiet for a count of twelve. The number twelve is significant of the time and the months of the year.
The poet tells us not to ‘speak in any language’ and not to ‘move our arms’. To stop wars and destruction, man must put down his weapons. He has also used words like ‘once’ and ‘one second’ as he is appealing to the reader to do something that they have never done before.
This moment of complete inactivity would be an extraordinary, memorable or cherished moment. There would be no rush, no noise and no disturbance. Man would not have to cope with the fast pace of life. This would be a profound moment of bonding and togetherness. There would be complete relaxation of mind, body and soul. Man will be united with the rest of the world by a common link of peace. The poet talks about a metaphorical concept when he says that fishermen would not harm marine life. ‘Cold sea’ denotes the coldness of fishermen who do not bother about protection of sea life and in moments of inactivity they would not be able to disturb the sea animals. The salt gatherers would also stop to look at their calloused hands that hurt due to this activity. They too, would pause to think about their mindless activities and their effects.
The poet feels that the whole speculation of wars and their destructive qualities would be negated during those moments of silence. ‘Green wars’ refers to environment degradation caused by human activities, ‘wars with gases and fires’ refers to wars fought with nuclear and bio weapons. Man may get the satisfaction of being victorious but ironically, wars leave behind no survivors.
Those who wage wars would be cleansed of all the murk and dirt from their minds. They would then walk about with other individuals and exhibit amity, brotherhood and harmony. They would do nothing to harm mankind or nature.The poet does not wish to advocate total inactivity or silence, which may be misunderstood and confused with death. Life continues to remain what we make of it. If we were not so concerned about keeping our lives active, i.e., doing things mindlessly and waging wars. We perhaps would not lose sight of our goals. Our desire to achieve goals makes us single minded and desperate. It is then that we lose all perspective. The poet feels that silence for a while might alleviate sadness from our lives. Quiet productivity in place of all activities is desirable. The end of all activities does not mean death but just a break from the monotony of a stressful life.

The poet, in the last lines, feels that we can learn a lesson from the Earth. It can teach us how silence is productive. The Earth appears calm and quiet but is actually nurturing life. Things may die but are reborn and the cycle goes on because the Earth brings forth new life. The poet appeals to all human beings to make an effort to keep/quiet. He has initiated the state of inactivity and now it is the human beings who can carry on with this idea while he makes a quiet exit.

Poetic Devices
Symbols

‘Count to twelve’ – symbolizes a measure of time.The clock has twelve markings on it and the year has twelve months. ‘Fishermen in the cold sea…hurt hands’-symbolic image showing how man is ruthlessly destroying nature for his selfish needs. The ‘hurt hands’ of the salt gatherer symbolises how he is harming himself by his mindless activities. Fisherman and whale stands for the oppressor and oppressed respectively. The image of the Earth as a nurturer and life-giver. ‘Clean clothes’ symbolizes peace and change in one’s perspective–cleanse one’s soul.

Personification
‘Earth can teach us as when everything’–Earth is personified as a teacher. When the Earth appears to be dead, it is actually dormant and carefully preserving the seeds of life, human beings too need to keep still and quiet to re-awaken the life forces to be productive.

Metaphor
‘Put on clean clothes’ (stanza 5)–to cleanse himself/ remove feelings of hatred, anger and destruction. ‘In the shade’–just as shade protects us from the harsh sunlight, we should protect and shelter each other as brothers.

Irony
Victory with no Survivors

Euphemism
(Euphemism is a word or phrase used in place of a term that might be considered too direct, harsh or unpleasant).
no truck with death

Alliteration
sudden strangeness (stanza 3)
clean clothes (stanza 5)
(Referring to clean minds and bodies)

Transferred Epithet
Cold sea (stanza 4)

Pun
‘arms’ (stanza1) representing the arms of the human anatomy and arms and ammunication

POEM IN A NUTSHELL
Theme
1. The urgent need for mankind to introspect, buy time to start afresh.
2. To put an end to all destructive activities, be at peace, in universal brotherhood.
3. The need to live in peaceful co-existence with nature, to stop harming animals and avoid annihilation of the human race.

Contents
1. The poet counts up to twelve, as a countdown to stop all activities (twelve indicating the twelve markings on the clock/twelve months signifying the passage of time) of the people all over the world, bound in an ‘exotic’ moment as it has never happened before.
2. Fishermen shouldn’t kill whales and man should stop extracting salt which hurts his hands. Men indulging in wars, chemical or otherwise, harming the environment, should stop their destructive activities, should don clean clothes and should be at peace with each other, ‘in the shade’ as against the fiery wars where there would be no survivors.
3. The poet wants productive inactivity, not inactivity per se which would be a death like state. He thinks men are single-minded in following routine, without introspecting and gauging to see where they are going with their lives. There is a vacuum in their lives, a deep sadness as they have no time to ponder over what they want from life.

4. The Earth, he thinks can teach us the need to take a break (as the seeds seem to hibernate in winter, seem dead but come back to life in full force in spring) to resurrect our life and start afresh. After conveying his message, the poet feels he can pass on the mantle of responsibility to the mankind who can follow the path shown by him.

Type I. Reference to Context
Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow:

1. 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.

Questions

Question. What does the poet appeal for?
Answer: The poet appeals for peace and harmony on the Earth.

Question. To attain this, what does he expect all of us to do?
Answer: He expects all human beings to be silent, totally inactive and introspect for some time.

Question. Why does he advocate silence?
Answer: He advocates silence so that human beings could introspect about themselves without any external disturbance.

Question. What kind of activity does the poet feel man is involved with?
Answer: The poet feels that man is leading a verymonotonous and dull existence. He is also engaged in destructive activities that harm himself and nature too.

Question. The figure of speech in ‘move our arms’ is
(a) simile (b) metaphor
(c) personification (d) pun
Answer: pun

(vi) The poetic device in ‘face of the Earth’ is
(a) simile (b) metaphor
(c) personification (d) pun
Answer: personification

2. It would be an exotic moment without rush,
without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Questions

Question. What does the poet mean by ‘exotic moment’?
Answer: By ‘exotic moment’ the poet means that this moment will be worth cherishing as it wouldbe extraordinary.

Question. How could man achieve this ‘exotic’ moment?
Answer: In this exotic moment, man would be able to stop all activities, remain silent and introspect.
He would feel enlightened and be in harmony with nature.

Question. What kind of a feeling would this ‘exotic moment’ evoke?
Answer:  It would be an extraordinary moment as man would be at peace with himself and his surroundings. This moment might reduce man’s sadness at having generated negative thoughts.

Question. What harm do the fishermen do and why do salt gatherer’s hands hurt?
Answer: The fishermen kill the whales and cause their extinction while salt gatherers’ hands hurt due to the coarse and rough texture of the salt causing pain to their hands.

Question. ‘a sudden strangeness’ is a
(a) simile (b) metaphor
(c) alliteration (d) pun
Answer: alliteration

Question. ‘Cold sea’ is a
(a) simile (b) irony
(c) pun (d) transfered epithet
Answer: transferred epithet

3. Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

Questions

Question. What are the kinds of wars mentioned in the above lines?
Answer: The poet mentions three types of wars, i.e. green wars that man wages against nature and environment. He also mentions wars with gas and wars with fire meaning that man kills other human beings with the help of biological and nuclear weapons.

Question. What are green wars?
Answer: ‘Green wars’ refers to the environmental degradation caused by man’s mindless activities.

Question. How would the wars affect our lives?
Answer: Apart from the death of thousands of innocent people, war would not leave anyone victorious because there would be no survivors.

Question. What could be the ideal situation?
Answer: An ideal situation would be one in which human beings would be seen happily walking with others hence depicting a feeling of oneness, unity and brotherhood. There will peace and universal brotherhood.

Question. The poetic device in ‘victory with no survivor’ is
(a) simile (b) irony
(c) pun (d) metaphor
Answer: irony

Question. The figure of speech in ‘in the shade’ is
(a) simile (b) irony
(c) pun (d) metaphor
Answer: metaphor

4. What I want would not be confused
With total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving, and for once
could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Questions

Question. What does the poet mean by inactivity?
Answer: By ‘inactivity’ the poet means a period of total silence, no work, no disturbance. He visualizes a calm and a quiet atmosphere where man introspects and there is productive silence.

Question. How is inactivity different from death?
Answer: The poet only wishes for a few moments of inactivity and man be able to reflect on his actions. Death on the other hand, is the end of life, which the poet does not advocate.

Question. What makes us sad and what are we singleminded about?
Answer: We are single-minded about moving on with our lives and focus only on our ambitions and goals. The mechanised lifestyle and the feeling that we cause threat to our own destruction makes us feel sad.

Question. What does the poet mean by ‘to have no truck with death’?
Answer: The poet wants to have no association with death as death is end of life. He only appeals that we should be more productive and give up endless and futile pursuits that cause unhappiness.

Question. The poetic device used in ‘truck with death’ is
(a) euphemism (b) simile
(c) irony (d) metaphor
Answer: euphemism

Question. ‘Life is what it is about’ the poet is talking about—
(a) activity is the essence of life
(b) life is about death
(c) life is waging green wars
(d) life is total inactivity
Answer: activity is the essence of life

5. Perhaps the Earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Questions

Question. What can the Earth teach us?
Answer: The Earth can teach us how to be in harmony with others while remaining silent and productive.

Question. How does it teach us this lesson?
Answer: The earth continues to nurture life despite all the harm done to it by a man. It silently goes about its work and this is the lesson that we should learn from it.

Question. How does the Earth ‘prove to be alive’?
Answer: The Earth nurtures life and ensures that the cycle of birth, life and death moves on and the process of regeneration goes on unhampered.

Question. What is the poet’s appeal?
Answer: The poet appeals to man to make an effort to keep silent for a few seconds and introspect in order to make amends for a harmonious environment.

Question. The figure of speech in ‘the Earth can teach us’ is
(a) simile (b) metaphor
(c) personification (d) pun
Answer: personification

Question. What does the poet mean by ‘you keep quiet’?
(a) inactivity
(b) the fishermen will sit in the shade
(c) give man time to reflect and introspect
(d) analyse green wars, wars with gas and wars with fire
Answer:  give man time to reflect and introspect

Very Short Answer type Questions

Question. How, according to Neruda, can keeping quiet change our attitude to life?
Answer: Silence will give us time to think, to introspect, evaluate our actions and act more responsible. According to Neruda, this is how keeping quiet can change our attitude towards life.

Question. According to the poet, what is it that human beings can learn from nature?
Answer: According to the poet, the human beings can learn emergence of new life, uninterrupted, even in stillness. They can also learn to be productive and constructive from nature.

Question. Which images in the poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ show that the poem condemns violence?
Answer: “Fishermen not harming Whales”, “Wars with gas”, “ Wars with fire”, “Victory with no survivors”, images in the poem, ‘Keeping Quiet” show that the poet condemns violence.

Question. How can suspension of activities help?
Answer: Suspension of activities will give us time to introspect and assess our own actions. This self reflection would avoid destruction of mankind, ultimately helping us.

Question. ‘Life is what it is all about, ….’ How is keeping quiet related to life?
Answer: Keeping quiet must not be confused with total inactivity. Take the example of earth, how it seems still yet, it nurtures life under apparent stillness. This is how keeping quite is related to life.

Question. Do you think the poet, Pablo Neruda advocates total inactivity and death? Why/Why not?
Answer: No, the poet does not advocate complete inactivity and death. He makes it clear that stillness should not be confused with ‘total inactivity’. He merely wants every individual to keep quiet and stay still so as to introspect. He says that everyone has lessons to learn from the earth where life sprouts out of even seemingly dead surroundings.

Question. What will possibly be the effect of keeping quiet?
Answer: The possible effect of keeping quiet would calm us down, help us to introspect, help us live in peace. It will halt destruction and make us realise the need to be happy and united. Keeping quiet teaches us to live in close proximity with nature without harming it.

Question. Which is the exotic moment that the poet refers to in ‘Keeping Quiet’?
Answer: The poet talks about the exotic moment when everyone quietens and becomes still. In that moment, no language must be spoken and there must be no movement; it must be a moment of introspection. It would be a moment free from all types of violence and madness of the world.

Question. What is the exotic moment the poet Pablo Neruda wishes for?
Answer: The poet talks about the exotic moment when everyone quietens and becomes still. In that moment, no language must be spoken and there must be no movement; it must be a moment of introspection. It would be a moment free from all types of violence and madness of the world.

Question. Which symbol from nature does the poet invoke that there can be life under apparent stillness ?
Answer: The earth is taken as a symbol from nature, which the poet invokes that there can be life under apparent stillness. It is only earth that nurtures life even after death.

Question. What is the sadness that the poet Pablo Neruda, refers to in the poem, ‘Keeping Quiet’?
Answer: The sadness, which Pablo Neruda refers to in his poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ is the one that comes from never being able to understand ourselves; it is the sadness of isolation, yet no time for introspection. Humans are oblivious of the consequences of their destructive actions, the poet finds it quite saddening.

Question. Why does one feel ‘a sudden strangeness’ on counting to twelve and keeping quiet ?
Answer: On counting to twelve and keeping quiet makes one feel ‘a sudden strangeness’ because everything comes to a standstill. In this stillness
one can enjoy the exotic moment and introspect.

Question. What is the sadness the poet refers to in the poem ‘Keeping Quiet’?
Answer: The poet refers to the ‘sadness’ of failing to understand nature and oneself in the monotonous everyday existence. He also finds it sad that the humanity is moving towards its own ruin, owing to its unanalysed actions. He regrets the rush of outdoing others that has made one forget the values of humanity.

Question. How will ‘Keeping Quiet’ protect our environment?
Answer: Keeping quiet will protect our environment also because in that moment of inactivity man will not exploit nature for his vested interests, fishermen will not harm the whales, there will be no green wars and no wars with gases.

Question. What are the different kinds of wars mentioned in the poem? What is Neruda’s attitude towards these wars?
Answer: The different kinds of wars mentioned in the poem are green wars, wars with gases and wars with fire. No matter which type of war it is, it is always against either humanity or nature. Therefore, Neruda condemns all kinds of wars saying that wars may bring victories, but there are no survivors to celebrate such victories. He urges us to stop, keep quiet, count to twelve and introspect.

Question. What does the poem, ‘Keeping Quiet’ teach us?
Answer: The poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ teach us about how quietness leads to stillness, which further leads to peace and calmness in the world. It also teach us about the importance of introspection.

Question. What will counting upto twelve and keeping still help us achieve?
Answer: Counting upto to twelve and keeping still for this brief interval of time would give us a momentary pause to introspect and understand oneself and each other better. It would also give us an opportunity to stop and think before taking any reckless decision. As a result, we will find inner peace.

Short Answer type Questions

Question. Perhaps the Earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count upto twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
(a) What does the Earth teach us?
(b) What does the poet mean to achieve by counting upto twelve?
(c) What is the significance of ‘keeping quiet’?
Answer: (a) The Earth teaches us that there is life under seeming stillness.
(b) The poet wishes to wipe out the discord in the world and the reason for the imbalance that exists between man and nature. Ultimately, he wants to ensure the survival of the human race.
(c) Keeping quiet will provide time for introspection and create oneness among human beings.

Question. … … … perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
(a) How can we bring about a ‘huge silence’?
(b) Why is silence called ‘huge’?
(c) What do we do for lack of understanding?
(d) What does this lack ultimately lead to?
Answer: (a) We can bring about a ‘huge silence’ by keeping quiet and counting upto twelve or by halting all activities.
(b) Silence is called ‘huge’ because it is an exotic moment when every person on earth has become quiet.
(c) For lack of understanding, we must keep quiet and introspect.
(d) This lack ultimately leads to death.

Question. 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.
(a) How long does the poet want to stay still?
(b) What does he hope to achieve by keeping quiet?
(c) What does the poet mean by ‘not move our arms so much’?
Answer: (a) The poet wants us to count to twelve and keep still in that moment.
(b) He hopes to achieve peace and realise the value of self introspection.
(c) By the given sentence the poet means that one does not have to use his arms and ammunition so much as it causes violence. Similarly, by ‘not move our arms so much’ perhaps the poet is urging us not to use our hands and fists to fight.

Question. If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
(a) Whom does ‘we’ refer to in the above lines?
(b) Why does the poet want us to ‘do nothing’ for once?
(c) What is the ‘Sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?
Answer: (a) ‘We’ in the above lines refers to the people of the world.
(b) The poet wants us to ‘do nothing’ for once because he wants us to stop and introspect and in the process take stock of our actions.
(c) ‘Sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem is the due to causing so much destruction to the world and people.

Question. 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.
(a) What is the significance of the number ‘twelve’?
(b) Which two activities does the poet want us to stop?
(c) What does the poet mean by ‘let’s not speak in any language’?
(d) Describe the pun in the word, ‘arms’.
Answer: (a) The number twelve represents the twelve hours marks on the clock to measure time.
(b) The poet wants us to not speak in any language and stop for one second and not move our hands so much.
(c) The poet means that different languages symbolises difference. Keeping silent will ensure peace and give one the chance to introspect.
(d) The word ‘arms’ in the extract refers to both the hands and weapons.

Question. 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.
(a) Why does the poet want us to keep quiet?
(b) What does he want us to do for one second?
(c) What does he mean by ‘not move our arms’?
Answer: (a) The poet wants as to keep quiet so as to keep stock of our mindless activities and do self-analysis. Keeping quiet will give us mental relaxation, will ensure and eventually save mankind from doom.
(b) The poet wants us to keep quiet for a second, not move our arms so much and stop all activities.
(c) By ‘not move our arms’ the poet means to not move our hands nor weapons. This will prevent as from harming others thus, resulting in no wars and violence.

Question. It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
(a) Which exotic moment is referred to in these lines ?
(b) Why would that moment be strange?
(c) What does the poet advocate in the poem?
(d) What does the poet mean by the word, ‘engines’?
Answer: (a) The exotic moment referred to in these lines is the moment when everyone keeps quiet and there are no movements.
(b) The moment would be strange because there would be no rush and no noise. It will bring the whole humanity together.
(c) In this poem, the poet advocates keeping quiet for twelve seconds and in that time, everyone should introspect. This would save mankind from disaster.
(d) By ‘engines’ the poet means machines, automobiles, factories, etc.

Question. Perhaps the Earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
(a) What does the earth teach us?
(b) Why does the poet count up to twelve?
(c) What will keeping quiet help us achieve?
Answer: (a) The earth teaches us that there is life under apparent stillness. It also teaches us to be alive and possess the power to recover from loss.
(b) The poet counts upto twelve, taking time to calm down.
(c) Keeping quiet will help us achieve peace and tranquility.

Question. It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
(a) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(b) Who is the poet speaking to?
(c) What would be the moment like?
Answer: (a) The word ‘it’ refers to keeping quiet.
(b) The poet is speaking to us, the mankind.
(c) It would be an exotic moment. There would
be stillness and togetherness in that moment, promoting harmony and brotherhood.