Keeping Quiet

Pablo Neruda
(Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto)
Nobel Laureate - 1971

Born : July 12, 1904

Demise : September 23, 1973
Keeping Quiet –Theme/Title

The poem “Keeping Quiet” celebrates the necessity of introspection and the
advantage of ‘doing nothing’ for sometime in life.

In the hidden recesses of silence, all digressions disappear for ‘one is with
oneself’ at one’s - peaceful best.

In the vast treasure of deep silence one can find a large resource of peace and
tranquility.

Silence creates an exotic moment, where one forgets one’s differences; wars
come to a standstill and a feeling of brother-hood prevails.

Much of the evil disappears in the depths of a silent and inactive life, for if
man, at one point of time, does nothing, life on earth, can become a heaven
for those moments of life.
Keeping Quiet – Theme/Title

The title “Keeping Quiet” emphasizes the necessity of quiet introspection and
creating a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings.

It conveys Neruda’s philosophy of an exotic moment of silence and inactivity

which can be an antidote to war, violence, hatred, exploitation and turmoil.

By keeping quiet, mankind can try to understand itself and stop harming itself
with death and destruction. Thus, the title is very appropriate.

The poet visualizes a state of comfortable inertia where he wishes for

pleasant idleness and relaxation away from the frantic rat race, destructive
activities and futile wars. He wishes for a profound silence and stillness, that
would alleviate the sadness caused by lack of self understanding and the
threat of self destruction, which would build up a sense of togetherness.
 Keeping Quiet - Annotations

Not speak in any language

Language breeds discrimination and Linguistic Chauvinism breeds
domination. Speaking out creates unnecessary debates and disputes.
Instead of being a unifying force that allows people to connect, language
has ironically become a divisive force.
Not move our arms so much.

Man is a victim of his own thoughtless activities. Much of the unrest on the
face of the earth is a result of man’s so called progressive nature. Let us not
unnecessarily exploit our natural resources in the name of progress.

Without rush, without engines.

Thoughtless advancement and maddening competition.

Our lives would not be mechanized/dependent on technology.
 Keeping Quiet - Annotations
Sudden Strangeness
The exotic moment of introspection will build a sudden and strange(unique)
feeling of universal brotherhood and togetherness that is new and
inexplicable. Man should change his violent and exploitative attitude.
Keeping quiet and doing nothing will heal the wounds that we have inflicted
on nature; he will then find time to reflect on the pain he has caused himself.

Green wars.

War against environment

Wars with gas.

Air pollution / using poisonous gas in war (chemical warfare)

Wars with fire.

Actual war with fire arm / nuclear bombs.

 Keeping Quiet - Annotations

Victory with no survivors.

The war which man is waging against nature will one day convert this ‘Living
planet’ into a dead one, uninhabitable for human beings. It may be a victory
of man’s scientific knowledge, but there would be no survivors to celebrate
the victory.

Would put on clean clothes

Not involving themselves in any sort of destructive activity. Man would

strengthen the message of peace and brotherhood.

Poet cautions us not to confuse stillness with total

inactivity/death. Life is an ongoing process and must be lived
with a positive attitude. He does not want us to ruminate over
death.
 Keeping Quiet - Annotations

Not so single minded

Focused on only one thing - scientific progress and advancement.

Never Understanding ourselves

Our activities are harmful and disastrous ; we threaten ourselves with death.
The sadness is caused due to our single mindedness towards progress and
not understanding our emotional needs. We need to give up the rat race of
incessant activity pursuing material gains and success.

Perhaps the Earth Can teach us

While everything appears to be dead, it is actually dormant – preserving the

seeds of life. It teaches us to conserve, preserve and resurrect life. Similarly,
quiet introspection can bring evil thoughts and actions to an end and bring in
a new life of peace and tranquility.
 Keeping Quiet

The subtle change between the first two lines of the poem and the final two
lines
In the first two lines the poet is telling the reader to be still for a count of twelve.
He later goes on to give the reason for this. It was his intention to make the reader
understand the need to stop all destructive, violent, harmful activities, which
spells death for our civilization.

In the last two lines the poet is prepared to leave after having successfully
conveyed his message – his mission accomplished.

The precious moment of quiet introspection has taught the reader the wisdom of
peace and tranquility.
 Why twelve
The poet asks us to count till twelve as the
number 12 is an integral part of the
concept of time: the face of a clock has
twelve markings, there are twelve hours in
a day/night.
 Poetic Devices
Fishermen in the …….hurt hands:
Symbolism
Clean clothes: Metaphor
Earth can teach us: Metaphor
Exotic: Epithet
Sudden strangeness, clean clothes:
Alliteration