Flamingo Chapter 11 Keeping Quiet

1. The poet wants to stay still till he will count upto twelve “respite and peace”.
2. He hopes to achieve by keeping quiet because we always remain in rash and hurry. These bring ills and trouble in the world.
3. Here the poet means that we should cease all activities. Man has used his arms to kill and destroy the other. So we should not let arms move to harm others.

C.

upto twelve

D.

in any language

A.

cessation of all activities

1. When we will be silent and still, it would be an exotic moment.
2. By keeping quiet and still, we all would be alike as if we are together.
3. There will be peace when there is neither rush nor the working of engines and machines.
4. All will feel and enjoy sudden strangeness and unusualness.

C.

an exotic moment

C.

peace

C.

a feeling of cessation of noise and tension

E.

All of the above

1. The fisherman goes for fishing into the cold sea.
2. All of us on the earth (even the fishermen) become silent and still, so the whales would not be harmed at that moment.
3. The sea salt in its crude form injures the skin.
4. One is ‘fishing,’ and the other is ‘salt gathering.’
5. Collecting = gathering.

C.

the cold sea

A.

all the people become silent and still

C.

the sea salt in its crude form

D.

Both (a) and (b)

1. There are no survivors in the wars of poisonous gases and the war of firearms.
2. The war-wagers would put on clean clothes.
3. ‘Put on clean clothes’ signifies the feelings of their mutual understanding.
4. Brotherhood can be established in the world only if the war-wagers come together and go out for a walk together.

D.

Both (a) and (b)

C.

war monger

C.

war monger

B.

was-mongers go out for a walk together

1. ‘I’ is used for the narrator the poet, Pablo Neruda.
2. It is the moment of silence and stillness. It should not be confused with total inactivity.
3. Life is about actions and dynamism.
4. The poet does not want to have any dealing with death.
5. By keeping quiet the poet doesn’t want us to be like death, we are very much alive on that moment and Earth can prove we are not dead but alive.

D.

Both (a) and (b)

D.

Both (a) and (b)

C.

death

1. In case we go on thinking single-mindedly, we will remain busy in worldly activities thereby we won’t find time for self-introspection. It will be a sad situation.
2. We can understand ourselves through self-introspection.
3. Huge silence will remove all our tension, violence and warfare. It will do away with all our sadness.
4. We shall be threatening ourselves with death in case we do not interrupt our activities silently.

B.

Keeping Quiet

C.

through self-introspection

D.

All of the above

D.

in case we do not interrupt our activities silently

1. The earth can teach us how to live on it.
2. Being quiet will help us to realize the exotic moment. We will be able to do introspection.
3. The poet uses the capital letter ‘E’ in Earth to personify her with mother that teaches her words.

C.

how to live on it by doing some activity

D.

Both (a) and (c)

D.

All of the above

According to the poet, we should stop all our activities for a moment. Let us give up using all our machines and engines for a short while because most of our troubles are due to our hurry and becoming rash. We should do introspection and keeping still will pave our path for peace.

Tips: -

Imp.

The poet Pablo Neruda does not advocate total inactivity and death. We should not confuse total inactivity with stillness. Total inactivity brings death while stillness entails rest for a moment so that we can have calm introspection. The poet wants no truck with death. Stillness will keep us start out activities again in a purposeful way.

Here the poet refers to the ‘sadness’ which we form out of our own thinking and action. We understand a lot of things but does not understand himself and his action. His rush and hurry cause us troubles. He is bent up creating wars against humanity. He is the creator of all disasters. This is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem. Let us introspect ourselves calmly and create mutual understanding.

Tips: -

Imp.

The poet does not want us to confuse stillness with total inactivity. There is life under apparent stillness. He quotes an example of the earth which is active round the clock. Thus the poet involves the earth as a living symbol to prove his point. When everything seems dead, the earth proves to be alive. Under apparent stillness, the nature remains at work and thus keeps the earth alive.

The title of the poem suggests that we must keep quiet for a moment. There will be silence and all will set together and realise the value of collectiveness. Here, we should not confuse ‘stillness’ with ‘total inactivity.’ Life should go on as it is doing about. Even the nature remains at work and keeps the earth alive which remains busy in doing some activity. The poem stresses the significance of mutual understanding and necessity for introspection.

Note: This is an activity to be done by each student respectively. He can try it to gain power and realization of peace.

Hint: Sit in a corner for meditation. Control your mind and ideas. Glance sharply on the front part of your nose. Peep into yourself. You will attain miraculous results. This is the best exercise to attain peace.

Pablo Neruda asks all the human beings to stop all our worldly activity for a while and spend our few moments in quiet introspection. It will keep us to understand ourselves. We are in trouble because we always remain in hurry and rush. Let us withdraw ourselves from all undesirable actions and remain quiet. It will bring all together and a feeling of understanding will develop.

Tips: -

M. Imp.

The poet urges us not to speak much by using different languages because it will create unnecessary disputes and discussions. Thus, the poet asks us to keep quiet and we should speak through our hearts. By moving arms, we harm others. Therefore, the poet wants to have rest and repose.

Poet Neruda wishes to have total inactivity. Unnecessary rush and hurry have troubled and tensed all of us. The noise of machines creates disturbance when everything is at rest, it will be an exotic moment. It will give us unusual feeling and all will enjoy sudden strangeness. All will feel one with all others and leave aside all the selfish ends.

We can understand ourselves if we stop all our activities for a few moments and engage in quiet introspection. We should neither move our arms nor use any language to speak a word. Then it will be a blissful moment for all of us. It will help us in understanding ourselves.

If we peep into the philosophy of the poet, one can note that he is against any kind of trouble, violence and attack. By calling upon the fishermen, he urges them not to harm the whales. In the same way he is against the salt gatherers whose hands are hurt during the salt gathering process. He wants all of them to stop for a while and do introspection.

The poet points out three types of wars. In the Green wars, we are cutting down the forests and vitiating our green and fresh environment. Then there is a war of poisonous gases that puts all of us in danger. The war of firearms is all the more dangerous. He is against all types of wars. He urges these people to wear clean clothes and walk with other people under shady trees. Here, the poet is referring to create a sense of mutual understanding among all.

Tips: -

V. Imp.

The poet makes us clear not to confuse stillness with total inactivity. Total inactivity means death but the poet has no association with death. Stillness means stopping one’s activity for a short moment. Life must go on as unusual. He says that the essence of life is activity while inactivity is death.

By counting upto twelve and keeping still, will give an opportunity to think about ourselves. We will be able to introspect ourselves. In this moment we can even think about the world as well. We are responsible for creating chaos, confusion, trouble and hurry. We need both peace and introspection.

We must not forget that nature is a fine teacher. It teaches a lot of things to all of us. It keeps on working and remains calm and composed. So it teaches us to be quiet and still. It is no use to hinder others. We should grow and develop at our own place. We must be contended with what we possess. There is no need for greed. The nature always remains alive.

In this world all human beings are so single-minded that they do not have the feeling of mutual understanding among themselves. They remain extra busy and want to go on in the same way. The poet wishes they should not be self-absorbing. They should not be on the move. They need both silence and rest.

We see that people are in a hurry and rush. They remain self absorbed. Their actions lead to much sufferings and troubles. There is much need of self-introspection. Stillness and silence will keep them to achieve desirable result. So the title is appropriate and logical.

Poet Pablo Neruda in his poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ is asking all of us on this earth to keep silent and still for a moment. He tells it is the first requirement of calm self-introspection. Through calm self introspection we can attain a state of ‘self-realisation’. This state of knowing ourselves creates us a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings.

Through this stage of momentary silence and stillness, we try the stage of ‘know thyself. It further gives us the real meaning and real aim of life. It is only then we know, ‘life is life’ which is full of activities, dynamism and liveliness. We get rid of our sadness of life and also of the fear of death.

Pablo Neruda stresses the importance of stillness and the need of quiet introspection. There is a great need of creating a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings. He urges neither to talk nor to make movements of arms. He asks to stop hurry and the working of machines for a moment. He even asks the fishermen and the salt gatherers to stop working. He is against wars because the victory is meaningless without the survivors. Rather he urges the different war-wagers to come together and go out for a walk with their brothers. It will create a feeling of mutual understanding.

The poet further says that we should not confuse stillness with total inactivity. Total inactivity would amount to death as the poet has no association with death. He wants silence for a while which can soothe our feelings and helps us in removing the sadness. We must learn a lesson from the earth which always remains alive though everything seems dead. Thus the life goes on the earth under apparent stillness.

After counting to twelve everyone of us become silent and still – no one is speaking and no one is moving. All of us thus become one. It becomes a foreign moment and in this sudden strangeness it appears like the victory of wars without survivors. But it leads us to calm introspection, to a feeling of mutual understanding among all the human beings. It brings real joy by developing a feeling of mutual understanding. This total and complete passiveness gives a strange feeling of death everywhere.

Earth, the symbol from Nature teaches us. all that seemed dead to be alive. Thus this sudden strangeness of calm self-introspection shows us that nothing is dead. Everything is alive and life is about life, it is around life, and it is for life.

Instructing the people to stay quiet for a moment, Pablo Neruda hints at a state of equilibrium where without any movement or activity we shall get a chance to introspect within ourselves about our views, and activities whether we are right or wrong, true or false. The poet here hints at to introspect to work for unity, peace, and universal brother hood. He advises us to have the retrospection (to look back at our past events) so that we can evaluate our actions in future.

The poet talks about the ‘sadness’ which is related to the human’s ceaseless activity and moving towards his own ruin on account of his unanalyzed actions. He regrets the rush of outdoing others that has made one forget the values of humanity.

(i) The poet wants us to keep quiet and give up endless activity to be able to introspect. He wants us to break free of the barriers of language and be united in a moment of eloquent silence.
(ii) The poet wants us to give up our endless, incessant activities and be lost in eloquent, calm and peaceful silence break free of all barriers of language and communication.
(iii) When the poet says ‘ not move our arms’, he wishes to convey that in the moment of eloquent peaceful silence we must all give up whatever we are doing. He means to say there must be absolutely no action, no activity and no communication or interaction whatsoever.

Keeping quiet does not signify that we should stop doing everything. It simply means that we must stop doing all those things that are lethal to our mother earth. Mother Earth stays quiet nurturing life on it. Similarly, we should also make attempts to do things that support nature to maintain life on it.

No, he doesn't. He makes it very clear that 'stillness' should not be confused an equated to 'total inactivity'. Total inactivity brings death. But Neruda has 'no truck with death'. His stillness means cessation of hostile and harmful human activities.