KEEPING QUIET

-PABLO NERUDA
Pablo Neruda
Real name-Neftali Rieardo Reyues Basolto
Poet, Diplomat, Politician.
Poem originally written in Spanish.
Used green ink-personal symbol of desire and hope.
About The Poet
Theme
Necessity of introspection & retrospection.
Soul searching.
Anti-war poem.
Cruelty to animals.
Manual workers.

A message for unity, peace, universal

brotherhood
POEM:-
Analyses of Stanza
The poet begins with counting twelve urging everyone
to be still. He chose ‘twelve` for several reasons.
‘Twelve’ hints at the twelve hours of a day which rules
our life. ‘Twelve’ may even refer to the months of the
year. Basically it signifies the passage of time.
‘Twelve` even may be aimed for a preparation for all to
be ready to plunge into the state of silence.

Poetic Devices-
Alliteration: we-will
Poetic Device
Pun- the usually humorous use of a word in such a
way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the
meaning of another word similar in sound
Used in the word-“arms”-refers to the part of the body
and the arms & ammunition-weapons
Meanings
Exotic-special, unusual

Poetic device

Alliteration: sudden -strangeness

Analysis
Fishermen are the representatives of all kinds of
tyrants and killers.
The salt gatherers are the representatives of poor and
lower section of the society-the manual labourers.

Poetic devices-
Alliteration: would – whales; his hurt hands
Transferred epithet: cold sea
Analysis
Green wars- symbolize war against nature-
exploitation of the environment.
Wars with gas- symbolizes biological weapons.
Wars with fire- weapons of mass
destruction-atomic/nuclear weapons.
 Clean clothes- clean their soul, overcome negativity.

Poetic Devices-
Alliteration: clean clothes
Repetition: wars with
Meanings
To have truck with- to refuse to associate with/tolerate
something

Not inactivity but ‘super activity`

Conclusion
The poem comes with a sole message to keep ourselves quiet for a
moment Pablo Neruda hints at a state of equilibrium where without
any movement without any activity we shall get a chance to introspect
within ourselves about our views, and activities whether we are right or
wrong, true or false. We only get an opportunity to introspect or
retrospect when we find ourselves in the state of being quiet.
He even urges for inactivity not to be confused with death. He rather
gives us a call to think above our single mindedness. We should stop a
while and put aside our possessiveness and narrow minded thoughts.
The poet gave a call to the war mongers, the people who do green wars,
wars with gas and wars with fire to cease their brutal work and think
positive.