Keeping Quiet Questions And Answers, With Important Extra Questions, Explanation of the poem, summary, and pdf are available here in this post, check the Table of Contents given below for help.
Table of Contents
Keeping Quiet Questions And Answers Class 12
NCERT SOLUTIONS
Keeping Quiet Questions And Answers:-
Q.1 What will counting upto twelve and keeping still help us achieve?
Ans. Counting up to twelve will get us ready for a few minutes of silence and silence will lead to introspection and self-analysis. We will be able to remain peaceful, avoid conflicts and become conversant with our faults and weaknesses.
Q.2. Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death?
Answer: No, the poet does not advocate any such thing. Life is work, work is most important and life without activity is like death. He is just advocating a few minutes of silence.
Q.3. What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?
Answer Man’s sadness is formed out of his thinking and actions. This is the tragedy of man. He understands so much but fails to understand himself and his actions. His rush and hurry cause trouble. Man is always busy, without understanding his basic desires and is endlessly running after materialistic gains. Due to his thinking and actions, he is always threatening himself with death.
Q.4. What symbol from Nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under apparent stillness?
Answer The Earth may look “still” from the outside but deep within it has many possibilities of life. Everything else seems dead in the autumn as the trees fall their leaves but later in spring, the Earth becomes alive and kicking. Nature remains ever at work and under still surface, it keeps a life bubbling and ready to sprout.
Keeping Quiet Extra Question Answers
Q.1 Why does Pablo Neruda urge us to keep still? ( CBSE 2008)
Ans. Pablo Neruda considers that indecent1 haste and activities lead humanity to wars, violence and death. He urges us to keep still to enjoy a few moments of peace, rest and tranquillity, Sometimes keeping still gives us much-needed respite.2
Q.2 How can suspension of activities help? (CBSE 2012) (Keeping Quiet Questions And Answers)
Ans. Man’s indecent3 haste has already caused a lot of problems. His activities have birth only to chaos, war, violence and miseries. Suspension of human activities can help given restoring4 the environment and health of this world. Suspension of undue5 haste and rush can help in bringing peace and tranquility in the troubled world.
Q. 3. How will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us? (CBSE, 2012)
Ans. Man keeps his never-ending activities throughout the twelve hours of the day. This results in fresh turmoils6 and tensions. Violence, war and other mischiefs of man are the result of his undue and indecent haste and hurry. Keeping still can help him to buy time for a positive approach and thinking. It can help in bringing this uneasy and turbulent world to peace and harmony.
Q.4 Why shouldn’t we speak in any language and move our arms so much? (Imp.)
Ans. People of this world indulge7 in unnecessary debates and disputes. The poet urges them to stop speaking in any language. They should speak through their hearts. Men have moved their arms only to harm others. Therefore, they shouldn’t move their arms so much. They should give them the much-desired rest.
Q.5 What does the poet say about different kinds of wars? What alternative does he suggest?
Ans. The poet wants a total cessation8 of all kinds of wars. Green wars against the environment, wars with poisonous gases and fire must stop immediately. Instead of indulging in wars, the people must come out in their best dresses with their brothers. They should go out
for a walk, enjoying themselves doing nothing.
Q.6 According to Pablo Neruda, what is it that human beings can learn from nature?
Ans. According to Pablo Neruda, the main cause of miseries and chaos in this world is the impatience and indecent haste of man. Human beings can learn a lesson from nature. Nature carries on its mission unnoticed and unseen. Life and living never stop on earth. When everything is dead, one thing remains eternally alive Earth itself. Human beings must follow nature without indulging in indecent haste, violence and chaos.
Q.7 According to the poet Pablo Neruda what important lesson can the Earth teach us?
Or
How is stillness’ not equal to total inactivity? Why does Neruda say “I want no truck with death”? (V. Imp.)
Ans. The Earth can teach us an important lesson. The earth is never dead. When everything seems to be dead, it remains still alive. ‘Stillness’ shouldn’t be confused with ‘total inactivity. Life goes on as usual. The poet doesn’t advocate for total inactivity and has no association with death.
Q.8 Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death? Give a reasoned answer. (CBSE 2012)
Ans. Certainly not. The poet doesn’t advocate total inactivity and death. That would mean the end of the world. Stillness should not be misinterpreted as inactivity and death. We should follow nature. Mother nature continues its mission unnoticed and unseen. Life and living never stop on earth. Earth and nature remain eternally alive. But the stillness of nature doesn’t mean inactivity and death.
Q.9. How can there be life under apparent stillness? How does the poet prove it?
Ans. Neruda doesn’t equate stillness with total inactivity. Under this apparent stillness, there is life. We can learn it from the earth. When everything seems dead, the earth remains still alive. It is never dead. Life on the earth goes on as usual under the apparent stillness.
Q.10. Justify the title ‘Keeping Quiet”. (Keeping Quiet Questions And Answers)
Ans. The title of the poem is quite appropriate and logical. The people of the world are always in a rush and hurry. Their actions and reactions have led to untold suffering and troubles. Keeping quiet will do them a lot of good. It will give them the much-needed time for self-introspection. It will save them from many harmful activities.
Q.11. What is the exotic moment the poet Pablo Neruda wishes for? (CBSE 2009)
Ans. Pablo Neruda dreams and wishes for an exotic moment. It will be the moment when mankind will be free from rush, noise and harmful actions. The noise of engines and machines will cease. It will be a rare moment of peace and tranquillity.
Q.12 What environmental issues has the poet raised in the poem?
Ans. Man has been harming the environment through “green wars”, “wars with gas” and “wars with fire” which destroy nature and release toxic gases. Fishermen cause harm to the whales and destroy the ecological balance.
Q.13 Which activities does the poet advise us to halt?
Ans. The poet advises us to halt all destructive activities like causing harm to our environment through wars in which chemical weapons are used. Fishermen should stop catching whales.
Q.14 Why should we not speak in any language for once?
Ans. Language breeds discrimination. It divides people but the language of silence binds humanity. Silence helps us understand each other and strengthens peaceful co-existence.
Q.15 Explain the poet’s message in the poem. (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. The poet gives a message of universal brotherhood and peace through quiet introspection. If a man looks within, he would realise that he himself is responsible for discrimination and violence which is leading him to his own doom. (नाश)
Q.16. Whom is the poet addressing and what does he want them to do? (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. The poet is addressing each one of us, living on this earth. He wants us to halt for a moment and introspect and achieve that exotic moment that will awaken in us a feeling of mutual understanding and togetherness.
Q.17 What barriers and differences has man created for himself in the world?
Ans. Man has created barriers of nationalities and languages. There is discrimination all around on the basis of caste, creed9 and communities. It leads to hatred and enmity.10
Q.18 What does the poet mean when he says that a chemical war will result in “a victory with no survivors”?
Ans. Chemical wars result in total destruction as they destroy our natural resources and release toxic gases which are very harmful for the atmosphere. So these wars will not leave any survivors.
Q.19. On what note does the poem conclude? (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. The poem concludes on a positive note as the poet expresses the hope that from the Earth we can learn how to remain calm and let creative ideas generate. He reinforces the need to count to twelve and experience that exotic moment of togetherness and peace.
Q.20. What would be the exotic moment for man, according to Pablo Neruda?
Ans. A few minutes of silence would unite man in an unspeakable bond. That moment would be unique, unparalleled to any such thing that has ever been a bonding factor. During that time there would be self-introspection and no feelings of enmity or destruction.
Q.21. What would a few minutes of silence achieve? (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. Silence would lead to self-introspection and the entire humanity would relax for a while. Peace would reign supreme. Man will understand for the first time his basic purpose of life and this calmness within would lead to spiritual salvation.11
Q.22. Why were wars without survivors, according to the poet? (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. In war, there is a loss of manpower. After such a loss victory will not be enjoyed by anyone. Nothing can compensate12 for the loss of human life. So there is no credit in getting any victory in war, when there are no survivors to enjoy it.
Q.23. How will wars be avoided according to the poet? (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. Meditation or silence will reduce the aggressiveness and the desire to be violent. If one is at peace within oneself there is no desire to create destruction outside. So wars will automatically cease.
Q.24 How has man created destruction for himself? (Keeping Quiet)
Ans. Linguistic barriers and natural concerns have divided man. This alienation between different countries, states, races, and communities has sowed13 the seeds of hatred and jealousy. If man will observe silence there would be no disagreement. Many times language becomes a divisive factor rather than a bonding one.
Keeping Quiet Explanation
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Keeping Quiet Summary
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