Class 12 Poem 2(Flamingo)

📖Poem 2 

📜Keeping Quiet

✍️By Pablo Neruda

🌈Introduction About the Poet:

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) was a Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet known for his passionate and socially engaged poetry. His real name was Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He wrote on themes such as love, nature, politics, and peace. In “Keeping Quiet,” he urges people to take a moment of silence for self-reflection and peace.

⛅Poem Summary:

“Keeping Quiet” is a thoughtful poem that asks readers to pause from all activity — to be silent and still for just a few seconds. The poet believes that this brief silence will help us reflect on ourselves, our lives, and our relationship with nature and each other.

Neruda imagines a world where people stop talking, moving, and harming one another — where there is no noise, conflict, or rush. He believes such silence can lead to unity, understanding, and peace. He does not suggest complete inaction or death but a break from routine to realize the value of life and harmony.

🧔Key Themes:

a) Peace and Reflection:
Stillness can bring inner peace and awareness of our actions.

b) Unity and Brotherhood:
Silence can connect us across nations and languages, helping us feel united.

c) Self-Realization:
A pause from activity helps people think about their purpose and behavior.

d) Nature and Simplicity:
By keeping quiet, we can align ourselves with nature and its calmness.

🔖Poetic Devices:

• Repetition: “we will all keep still” — for emphasis and rhythm.

• Alliteration: “sudden strangeness,” “clean clothes,” “without rush or engines” — adds sound effect and flow.

• Imagery: “fishermen not harming whales,” “man gathering salt” — creates powerful pictures of peace.

• Symbolism: “count to twelve” — a symbol of time, clock, and rhythm of life.

💭Important Quotations:

• “Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still.”

→ Begins the call for silence and unity.

• “Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales.”

→ Symbolizes a peaceful relationship with nature.

• “What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.”

→ Clarifies that the poet wants thoughtful stillness, not laziness or death.

• “Life is what it is about; I want no truck with death.”

→ Emphasizes valuing life, not escape from it.

• “Perhaps the Earth can teach us…”

→ Nature becomes a teacher of renewal, rest, and balance.

📑Message of the Poem:

 

Pablo Neruda conveys that keeping quiet — even for a few seconds — can help us achieve inner peace, better human understanding, and harmony with nature. It is a reminder to pause, think, and live more meaningfully in a fast-moving, often violent world.