KEEPING QUIET

POEM-2

KEEPING QUIET               Poet name: - Pablo Neruda

Very Short-Answer Type Questions 

Q.1.How Long does the poet want to stay still? 

Ans:-The poet wants o stay still for the time it would take to count to twelve.

Q.2.What does he hope to achieve by keeping quiet?    

Ans:- By keeping quiet, he hopes to restart his activities afresh in a better and more purposeful manner.

Q.3.What does the poet mean by ‘not move our arms so much’?   

Ans:- The poet means to say that we should not only keep quiet but also not move our body even a little.

Q.4.What does the poet expect of the fishermen and why?    

Ans:- The poet expects the fishermen not to harm the whales in the cold sea.

Q.5.What do the hurt hands imply?

Ans:- The hurt hands imply the danger of being greedy and unsatisfied. The hurt hands warn man that he should stop collecting salt more than he needs.

Q.6.What will the man gathering salt do?

Ans:- He would look at his hurt hands.

Q7.What do you think is meant by ‘Green wars’?

Ans:- ‘Green wars’ means new and fresh wars caused by men all over the world.

Q.8. Who is the poet speaking to?                

Ans:- The poet is speaking to all those people who realize the value of quiet introspection.

Q.9. What would be the movement like?     

Ans:- It would be a very sweet and unusual moment, There would no hurrying and no noise. In this silence, we would feel ourselves as one with all others.

Q.10.How are the wars fought?

Ans:- They are fought with fatal gases and fatal weapons of firing.

Q.11. how, according to the poet, can men come out of their love for was and start living like brothers?

Ans:- Men can do so by finding a little time for quiet introspection.

Q.12. Pick out the phrase that underlines the inhumanity of war?

Ans:-Victory with no survivors.

Q.13. What does the poet want?

Ans:- He wants all of us to find a moment for quiet introspection.

Q.14. What does he want us not to confuse it with?

Ans:- He does not want us to confuse it with total inactivity.

Q.15. What does he think about life?

Ans:- He think of life as something connected with activity.

Q.16. What, according to him, does inactivity amount to?

Ans:- According to him, inactivity amount to death.

Q.17. What does the earth teach us?

Ans:- The earth teaches us that by suspending our activities for a short while, we can start them afresh in a better manner.

Q.18. Why does the poet count up to twelve?

Ans:- To give the reader a little time for introspection.

Q.19. What will keeping quiet helps us achieve?

Ans:- It will help us to achieve an inner maturity.

Q.20. What does he want us to do for one second? 

Ans:- He want us to not to speak in any language for one second.    

Q.21. Why does the poet want us to keep quiet?

Ans:- The poet want us to keep quiet so that during this time we  may do quiet introspection.

Q.22. What is the significant of keeping quiet?

Ans:- IF we keep quiet for a few moments and do introspection, we cqan understand ourselves. Then we can restart our activities afresh in a better and purposeful manner.

Short-Answer type Question:-       

Q.1. What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us to achieve?

Ans:- What the poet means to say is that we should stop all our activities for a few moments and do quiet introspection. It will help us to restart our activities afresh in a better and purposeful manner.

Q.2. What is the sadness that the poet refers to in the poem? 

Ans:- It is the sadness of never understanding ourselves. Those who remain all the time busy in worldly activities can never understand themselves. We can understand ourselves only if we stop all our activities for a few moments and do some quiet introspection.

Q.3. What does the poet want all of us to do?

Ans:- The poet wants us to stop all our activities for a few moments- only for as long as it will take to count to twelve. We should keep still and not move even our arms. We should remain silent and not say anything while we are sitting still. 

Q.4. Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death?

Ans:- The poet doesn’t say this at all. Whatever he says is connected with life and activities that can be made better. He only says that we should stop all our activities for a few moments and do quiet introspection. It will help us to restart our activities afresh in a better and purposeful manner.    

Q.5. What idea does Pablo Neruda want to convey in his poem, “Keeping Quiet”? 

Ans:- The poet wants to say that we should stop our worldly activities for a few moment and do some quiet introspection. It will help us to understand ourselves. Then we can start our activities afresh in a better and purposeful manner.

Q.6. What does the poet say about fishermen?

Ans:- the poet says that quiet introspection  will bring about a change in the outlook of fishermen they would no longer harm whales out of their greed . They would fish only as much as they need for their survival.

Q.7. What symbol from nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under apparent stillness?

Ans:- The poet uses  the symbol of the earth . He says that in winter, the earth seems to be dead .But later in spring, it is proved that it is alive, not dead. it has new colours and beauties added to it . Thus the poet proves that there can be life under apparent stillness.

Q.8. What does the poet say should not be confused with total inactivity?  Why?

Ans:- The  poet says that we should stop all our activities for a few moments and do quiet introspection but he says that it should not be confused with total inactivity . He says that the essence of life is activity while inactivity is death. 

Q.9. What is ‘an exotic moment’ the poet Pablo Neruda wishes for?

Or

Which is the exotic moment that the poet refers to in ‘keeping quiet’?

Ans:- The poet calls the moments of quiet introspection ‘an exotic moment’. He calls it exotic because it will give us a very unusual feeling. We shall feel ourselves as one with all others. We will come out of all our greed, selfishness and cruelty.

Q.10. What does the poet mean when he says, “Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still.”

Ans:-  the poet means to say that we should stop all our activities for few moments . We should sit still and keep quiet. We should not move even our arms and say no word. it will help us to do a little introspection and understand ourselves .

Q.11. What does the poet say about those ‘Who prepare green wars ‘?

Ans:- The poet says that there are people who enjoy making wars . They want to win victories even if there are no survivors after the victory. The poet says that these people will stop making wars if they can take out some time for quit introspection. They will then look upon all others not as their enemies, but as their brothers.

Q.12. Why does one feel ‘a sudden strangeness’ on counting one to twelve and keeping quiet ?

Ans:- Counting one to twelve doesn’t take one much time. But during this brief moment, one experiences a sudden strangeness. One feels quite at peace with oneself. The mind becomes free from all kinds of worries and troubles. 

Q.13. How, according to the poet, can earth teach us?

Ans:- When it is winter, everything on the earth seems to be dead . But later in spring, it is proved that the earth is alive, not dead. It has new colours and beauties added to it. Similarly, after the silence and stillness of quiet introspection, man can restart his activities in a better and purposeful manner.        

 Q.14. How can the suspension of activities help?

Ans:- The poet doesn’t advocate total inactivity . He wants us to suspend all our activities for a few moments only. It will help us to understand ourselves. Then we can start our activities afresh in a better and purposeful manner.

Q.15. How will keeping quiet protect our environment?

Ans:- If we keep quiet , there will be less of noise , and consequently less of noise pollution . Thus keeping quiet can help to protect our environment also.

Q.16. ‘Life is what it is all about ……’ How is keeping quiet related to life?

Ans:- Keeping quiet refreshes both our mind and body . We can then restart our activities afresh in a better and purposeful manner. Thus keeping quiet is very closely related to life.

Q.17. According to Pablo Neruda, what is it that human beings can learn from nature?

Ans:- We can learn from nature how to be peaceful with ourselves and how to grow at our own pace. We can also learn to remain satisfied with whatever we have.

Q.18. How , according to the poet , can we understand ourselves ?

Ans:- The poet says that we should stop all our activities for a few moments and do quiet introspection. During these moments, we should not even move our arms. We should speak no word. Thus through introspection, we can understand ourselves.

Q.19. What are the different kinds of wars mentioned in the poem? What is Neruda’s attitude towards these wars?

Ans:- The wars mentioned in this poem are ‘green wars ‘ i.e. fresh and new wars . The poet says that there are some people who enjoy making such wars. They want to win victories even if there are no survivors after the victory. The poet says that if the people take out some time for quite introspection, they will stop making new wars. They will then look upon all others not as their enemies, but as their brothers.

Q.20. What does the poet say about the man gathering salt?

Ans:- In his greed to collect more and more salt , the man has hurt his hands . If he spares a few moments for quiet introspection, he will realize the folly of his greed. He will look at his hurt hands and give up his greed.