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Keeping Quiet

In 'Keeping Quiet,' Pablo Neruda urges readers to pause their busy lives for introspection and to foster a sense of brotherhood. He advocates for a brief period of silence to reflect on personal and communal relationships, highlighting the need to recognize the harm caused by selfish pursuits and conflicts. The poem emphasizes that stillness can lead to productivity and unity, drawing a parallel between human behavior and the earth's quiet yet fruitful existence.

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21 views2 pages

Keeping Quiet

In 'Keeping Quiet,' Pablo Neruda urges readers to pause their busy lives for introspection and to foster a sense of brotherhood. He advocates for a brief period of silence to reflect on personal and communal relationships, highlighting the need to recognize the harm caused by selfish pursuits and conflicts. The poem emphasizes that stillness can lead to productivity and unity, drawing a parallel between human behavior and the earth's quiet yet fruitful existence.

Uploaded by

swarajkr440
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

KEEPING QUIET

By Pablo Neruda

Introduction

In this poem, the poet aims to appeal to the readers to take some time out of their busy life
for a little introspection and retrospection. The title, “Keeping Quiet” is symbolic of
stopping all the activities and keep the mind quiet by not doing anything, but to question
and understand the purpose of the world that humans have created around themselves.

Theme

In the poem, the poet advocates to keep quiet and still for a while to introspect and
understand ourselves and our relationships, and to build a peaceful and harmonious world
over. He asks all the human beings to stop all worldly activities for a while and spend few
quiet moments in introspection.

Poetic Devices

Alliteration

Sudden strangeness

Hurt hands

Clean clothes

We will

We would

Wars with

Metaphor

Put in clean clothes

In the shade doing nothing

Repetition

Without rush, without engines

We will

Imagery
Cold sea

Antithesis

Count to twelve and we will all keep still

Victory with no survivors( paradox/ oxymoron)

Personification

Perhaps the earth can teach us

Summary

In this poem, the poet has emphasised the need to introspect and bring in the spirit of
brotherhood among the people of the world. He wants people to stop talking and stop all
movements symbolising agitation and restlessness till he counts twelve, that is, a short
period of time. These moments of silence would be strange and exotic because in our
mundane life, we are working towards achieving selfish goals, regardless of the others’
requirements and emotions. Hence, this sudden silence would give us an opportunity to
introspect. Since we would not speak for a while, barriers between communities would
break and a sense of brotherhood would prevail. Man would get an opportunity to realise
how he is destroying nature and how he is harming himself. Futile wars against man and
nature would be arrested and a new feeling of unity would be experienced. The poet does
not want his desire for inactivity to be misunderstood as a state of uselessness or inaction.
He wants man to learn a lesson from the earth. The earth appears to be inactive, yet it is
selflessly productive. Man too could be productive and progressive without any aggression,
selfishness and the urge for destruction.

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