KEEPING QUIET (Flamingo)

ABOUT THE POET 

Pablo Neruda (1904 – 1973) is the pen name of Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto who was born in the town of Parral of Chile. Neruda’s poems are full of easily understood images which makes them no less beautiful. He won the Nobel prize for literature in the year 1971. In this poem Neruda talks about the necessity of quiet introspection and creating a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings. 

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.

Here the poet appeals to stop all the activities and urges not to talk in any language. When he appeals not to speak in any language; it is symbolic of asking people to now “speak” in one language – silence. This would bring everyone together and lead us to introspection because poet thinks that language creates the disputes and problems for others. He requests to “not move our arms so much”, which in this context, it can be considered as merely brisk walking, but could also can be signifying violence or our selfish pursuits. It is to be noted that how the poet mentions “once” and “one second” in this stanza. The appeal is set on the premise that humans are constantly speaking and constantly moving- again, a reinforcement of his earlier hedge on the lack of time to be still and introspective. 

It would be an exotic moment
without rush,
without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

He also says people would stop their babbling tongues and moving arms. Instead of searching outside, they would look inside and do some introspection. It would be a very beautiful moment because everyone will follow the same language, language of silence. In that everyone will be together, but a strangeness will descend because there will be no communication among the people. 

Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Poet says that only for one second all the human beings would stop their works and activities even fisherman who catches the fishes would not harm the whales and the entire water organism. No person would be harming any other living being either for food or to earn his livelihood. He also talks but ‘hurt hands’, he says people ignore their own health just running behind money for their survival. 

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing. 

By this poem the poet wishes to spread universal peace and brotherhood among the people. He urges to reader to stop all kinds of aggression, jealousy, dispute towards others and towards nature. Poet alerts the people who exploit the green wealth of nature by deforestation, or mining, or fishing in the deep seas and the soldiers who use weapons to kill fellow human beings need some time to introspect about the consequences of their actions. They are merely doing their job or following orders. 

Poet says for a moment everyone will stop their daily activities which they undertake for managing their life comfortably, like a mad pursuit, struggling for survival, the greed that destroys oneself and others. He says those who prepare wars for ruling on others will realize the futility of victory because such victory has no survivors. He wants people to wear new clothes and develop a new approach towards life and realize killing people is not victory but living in peace and harmony is a better way of life. 

What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

In this poem the poet continuously talks about silence and to stop all the activities but here the poet reminds us that he is not talking about death or total inactivity. The poet’s message is about life and he does not want it to be related in any way to death. It is not a state of inactivity but rather of continued action at a slower pace. 

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.

Neruda says the human life is full of struggles or pain because of his single mindedness. In this busy world human beings have become very selfish for maintaining his life comfortably and earning the livelihood and other necessities. They always spend time for their own welfare and success. As mentioned before, the basic concern of all human beings is being alive. 

Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

These lines describes the poets message for the human beings. He provokes human to learn the lesson from the nature as what seems dead rejuvenates and lives again. During winter, the earth is blanketed with a coat of ice, and it appears as though there is no life in the environment. Even the air is frigid (frosty) and draughty. However, this is not the end and this does not last for long. The earth gets itself refined of all these trivial discrepancies, counting them all as a part of the rejuvenation process. Despite all natural disasters and calamities, the earth continues its journey. The cycle of reconstruction continues. The earth rejuvenates itself and moves on in life.
Now I’ ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Here, the poet tries to maintain the third person viewpoint towards the entire poem and thoughts, and he tries to quietly leave the scene as he initiated the thought process and passed the message. Maintaining a third person viewpoint to the entire dilemma, the poet leaves us on a train of thought. Now that he has passed on the message, his work is done and he quietly leaves the scene.

1. What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us to achieve?

The poem begins with a dramatic scene. The poet introduces a game in which he appeals to the people to count up to twelve and keep still in silence not for many hours but it is only for one second. By asking the reader to count to twelve, the poet calls for a time to be tranquil and unmoving. In the poem Keeping Quiet poet used twelve numbers for counting it could be associated to the clock hours or possibly, even the number of months in a year. Both attributions however, effectively depict how our hours and months pass by before us, as we continue to chase after them without so much as a pause in between. 

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

No, the poet does not advocate total inactivity and death. He feels that peace and tranquility should not be understood as utter lethargy. That itself would mean death- the end of everything. He wants a perceptive silence in which people are not obsessed with apparent progress. That to the poet is mere existence and not progress. This silence might postpone the unhappiness linked to the unthinking existence of man that leads to self-destruction. 

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

The ‘sadness’ that the poet talks about is ceaseless activity without understanding ourselves that would eventually lead to doom. Neruda also shows his attention towards the poor and workers who collect the salt in the sea. He says they will stop and notice their injured hands and they will apply the treatment to overcome this injury. Poet says because of busy life we could not spare time to see the injury and sadness of our life. All the people who work endlessly will get some time to look at their injuries and the damage they have caused to their body. 

4. What symbol from nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under apparent stillness?

The poet invokes a powerful symbol of the earth to say that there can be life under apparent stillness. He says that the earth is a great teacher in its quietness, its strong message resounds. It seems silent and yet nurtures so much life on it. The poet wants to begin his mission of giving our lives a thought. He wants us to be productive in our silence.

Click here to view the Video Explanation for this poem.