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TEXT BOOK SOLVED EXERCISE

2. ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

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Q1- What will counting upto twelve and keeping still help us achieve?
A1-If we count upto twelve and keep still, it will give us some time to analyze our deeds.
It will allow us some moments to think about the result of our activities. People in the world
are involved in wars and are also damaging the environment in order to achieve their aims.
Unfortunately this is taking all of us toward our own end. So, we need to think in order
to achieve peace and harmony.

Q2- Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death?
A2- No, the poet doesn’t advocate total inactivity and death. He clarifies this in his poem that
he wants all the people to just stop for a while in order to analyze their activities and their
consequences. He wants human beings not to support war and damage to the environment.

Q3- What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?
A3- The sadness is the result of our own actions and deeds. According to the poet we all are
in a hurry of achieving various tasks in our life. This rush sometimes proves dangerous for us.
As we don’t analyze our actions, so we land ourselves in a number of problems. These prob-
lems then become the reason for our sadness as referred to in the poem.

Q4- What symbol from Nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under
apparent stillness?
A4- The poet takes the example of earth to prove that there can be life under apparent
stillness. The earth never gets inactive. We experience the change in the seasons which brings
so many different things with it. In winters, things come to a standstill as the water bodies
freeze; the trees shed their leaves, etc. But as soon as the spring season comes, it brings with
it the lovely flowers, flowing rivers and a new life is given to the nature. So, the poet wants
to convey that we should stay calm but that doesn’t mean that it will bring total inactivity
and stillness.

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Extra Questions
1. What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us achieve ?
Ans. Counting upto twelve and keeping still gives us time to introspect ourselves. In this way,
we can recuperate our energy and restart our activities with fresh energy and zeal.

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

Ans. No, the poet does not advocate total inactivity and death. He only wants us to keep
quiet for a few seconds and suspend all our activities for a few seconds. In this way we can
introspect our¬selves and restart our activities with fresh energy and zeal.

3. What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?

Ans. When people don’t introspect themselves they fail to understand themselves, then
‘sadness’ arises. The poet wants that people should overcome this sadness by introspecting
themselves.

4. What symbol from Nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under
apparent stillness?
Ans. In this poem, the poet uses the symbol of the earth to say that there can be life under
apparent stillness. He says that the earth appears to be dead in the winter season. But when
the spring season comes it becomes alive with all its new plants. It never takes rest.

5. How would keeping quiet affect the life in and around the sea?
Ans. It will affect the life in and around the sea in two ways. The fishermen will stop fishing
for some time. It will help the number of the fish to recuperate. The man gathering salt will
get some time to see his hurt hands get healed.

6. ‘Life is what at is about; How is keeping quiet related to life?

Ans. Keeping quiet is related to life not death. The poet says that by keeping quiet we get
some time to introspect ourselves. Keeping quiet helps us to recuperate our energy. In this
way we can start our activities with fresh zeal and energy.

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9. Why does one feel ‘a sudden strangeness’ on counting to twelve and keeping quiet?
Ans. When we keep quiet for some time and suspend all our activities for some time, we feel
a sort of strangeness. The reason is that we are always surrounded by the noise of machines,
etc. When there is no sound, we feel a sort of strangeness.

8. How will ‘keeping quiet’ protect our environment?

Ans. Keeping quiet helps us to stop wars. In this way it helps to prevent destruction of en-
vironment due to wars. Also, it prevents deforestation. In this way, we can say that keeping
quiet is the only way to prevent our environment from all types of pollution.

9.What does the poet want us to tell?

Ans. The poet wants us to tell that by keeping quiet and remaining still for few moments, we
will be able to do our work in a more effective way. We can analyse our past actions and
not repeat our past, mistakes.

10. What does the poet mean by saying ‘victory with no survivors’?
Ans. According to the poet the wars cause a lot of destruction. A lot of people die from both
the sides. Therefore, no one can claim that their side has won, since the so called victor also
has to face a lot of causalities.

11. What are the different types of wars mentioned in the poem?
Or
What is Neruda’s attitude towards these wars?
Ans. The poet says that there are green wars. He means t to say that the people who
destroy forests also wage a war against their own coming generations. There are wars with
fire, chemical weapons and poisonous gases. The wars bring so much destruction that no side
could be called victorious. The poet wants that all these wars should be stopped. These wars
bring nothing but destruction.

12. How does the earth teach us that there is activity even in apparent stillness?
Ans We think that earth is dead as it remains still. But many changes are taking place under
the surface of the earth. A seed that seems dead germinates under the earth and a new life
springs from it.

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ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
1. Write in brief the summary of the poem.
2. Write the central idea of the poem.
3. Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the Earth
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for one second,
And not move our arms so much.

Questions
(a) What is the significance of the number ‘twelve’ ?
(b) Which two activities does the poet want us to stop ?
(c) What does the poet mean by ‘let’s not speak in any language’ ?
(d) Describe the pun on the word ‘arms’.

4: It would be an eicotic moment

without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales.
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

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Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) Which moment has been referred to here and how it will be significant ?
(c) How would we feel during that moment ?
(d) What does the poet want from the fishermen ?

5: Those who prepare green wars,

wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers –
in the shade, doing nothing.

Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) What does the poet mean by green wars ?
(c) What types of wars does the poet mention ?
(d) What does the poet want from the lovers of the war ?

6: What I want should not be confused

with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) What should not be confused with total inactivity ?
(c) What does the poet mean by …. I want no truck with death ?

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 (d) What is the gist of this stanza ?

6: If we were not so single-minded

about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Questions
(a) Whom does ‘we’ refer to in the above lines ?
(b) Why does the poet want us to ‘do nothing1 for once ?
(c) What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem ?
(d) How can a huge silence do good to us ?

7: Perhaps the Earth can teach us

as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Questions
(a) What does the earth teach us ?
(b) Why does the poet count up to twelve ?
(c) What will keeping quiet help us achieve ?
(d) How does the earth teach us that there is activity even in apparent stillness ?