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Q.On the basis of the extract, study the two statements, I and II given below: I. People must keep silent at twelve everyday. II. Introspection will lead to peaceful coexistence. Choose the most appropriate option:

(a) I is false, but II is true
(b) Both I and II are false
(c) Both I and II are true
(d) I is true, but II is false (Keeping Quiet)
CBSECBSE Class XII Board 2023MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★
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The poem calls for a symbolic moment of stillness and introspection, not a literal daily ritual; that reflective pause would indeed foster understanding and peace among people.

Pablo Neruda's Keeping Quiet is not a manifesto for daily silence at noon. The poet invites us to imagine a single, extraordinary moment—"count to twelve and we will all keep still"—as a thought experiment, a way to jolt humanity out of its frenzy. Twelve here is symbolic, perhaps echoing the hours on a clock or simply a brief interval long enough to stop and think. Neruda does not prescribe a recurring practice or a fixed time each day; he asks us to consider what would happen if, just once, everyone paused together. The stillness he envisions is a metaphor for stepping back from our relentless activity, our wars, our exploitation of the earth, our inability to listen.

Statement I takes the poem too literally. Neruda's appeal is poetic and philosophical, not a schedule or a rule. He wants us to feel the power of collective quiet, to recognize how rarely we stop to reflect. The moment at twelve is illustrative, not prescriptive—nowhere does the text suggest this must happen every day or at any particular hour.

Statement II, however, captures the poem's heart. Neruda believes that if we pause, if we resist the urge to rush and harm, we might understand ourselves and each other differently. He writes of "not move our arms so much," of fishermen not harming whales, of men in green wars recognizing their shared humanity. Introspection—looking inward, questioning our motives, seeing the cost of our actions—opens the door to empathy. When we stop long enough to think, we see that our separateness is often violent and unnecessary. The poem insists that this reflective stillness would not be death or inertia but a kind of life more awake, more connected, more peaceful. …

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