Question:
Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow (from 'Keeping Quiet' by Pablo Neruda):
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.
a) What do we lose in our single-minded desire? (2)
b) What is the 'sadness' that the poet talks about? (2)
c) How are we threatening ourselves? (2)
Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow (from 'Keeping Quiet' by Pablo Neruda):
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.
a) What do we lose in our single-minded desire? (2)
b) What is the 'sadness' that the poet talks about? (2)
c) How are we threatening ourselves? (2)
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.
a) What do we lose in our single-minded desire? (2)
b) What is the 'sadness' that the poet talks about? (2)
c) How are we threatening ourselves? (2)
Updated On: Sep 24, 2026
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Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Context:
In 'Keeping Quiet', Pablo Neruda urges humanity to pause its restless activity for a moment of stillness and introspection.
Step 2: a) What we lose:
In our single-minded obsession with keeping life constantly busy and moving, we lose the opportunity for stillness, self-reflection, and genuine understanding of ourselves and our actions.
Step 3: b) The 'sadness':
The 'sadness' refers to humanity's tragic failure to ever truly understand itself — we remain trapped in constant activity, never pausing to reflect, which leaves us emotionally and spiritually disconnected from our own inner lives.
Step 4: c) How we threaten ourselves:
We threaten ourselves with death through our relentless, aggressive activity — symbolised elsewhere in the poem by wars, machines, and exploitation of nature — which pushes humanity toward self-destruction rather than harmony.
Final Answer:
a) The chance for stillness and self-understanding. b) The sadness of never understanding ourselves. c) Through our restless, destructive activity (wars, exploitation) that pushes us towards our own destruction.
In 'Keeping Quiet', Pablo Neruda urges humanity to pause its restless activity for a moment of stillness and introspection.
Step 2: a) What we lose:
In our single-minded obsession with keeping life constantly busy and moving, we lose the opportunity for stillness, self-reflection, and genuine understanding of ourselves and our actions.
Step 3: b) The 'sadness':
The 'sadness' refers to humanity's tragic failure to ever truly understand itself — we remain trapped in constant activity, never pausing to reflect, which leaves us emotionally and spiritually disconnected from our own inner lives.
Step 4: c) How we threaten ourselves:
We threaten ourselves with death through our relentless, aggressive activity — symbolised elsewhere in the poem by wars, machines, and exploitation of nature — which pushes humanity toward self-destruction rather than harmony.
Final Answer:
a) The chance for stillness and self-understanding. b) The sadness of never understanding ourselves. c) Through our restless, destructive activity (wars, exploitation) that pushes us towards our own destruction.
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