JAIRAM PUBLIC SCHOOL, SALEM-

8 (CBSE - Senior Secondary)

Affiliated to CBSE, New Delhi Affin No.1930411

Ph : 97900-55555

English ALS Portfolio

SUB CODE : 301

2022-2023

This is to certify that M.AFZALof class XII-A1 has completed his project file under
my supervision.

he has taken proper care and shown utmost sincerity in completion of this
project. I certify that her project is up to my expectation and as per guidelines
issued by CBSE.

Internal Examiner External examiner Principal Signature Date:

This is to certify that M AFZALof Class XII-A1 of Jairam Public
School, Salem-8 has completed her project file under my
guidance. he has taken proper care and shown utmost
sincerity in completing this project.
I certify that her project this project is up to my expectations
and as per the guidelines issued by CBSE.

Mrs.PRIYA
(PGT ENGLISH/Head of the Department)

(Signature)
 Index
S.n Topics Pg.no
o
1. Cover Page
2. Acknowledgement
3. Certificate of Guide
4. Certificate of Student
5. Action Plan
6. Objectives of ALS
7. Silence leads to Success
8. Importance of Stillness
9. Prologue of the Poem
10. Title Justification
11. About the Poet
12. Theme of the Poem
13. Message of the Poem
14. Literary Devices of the Poem
15. Overall view of the Poem
16. Bibliography
17. Report

silence leads to success

Silence is a precious gift. In that space between our
words, it‟s where we find ourselves. When the mind
is quiet, when there are no thoughts and no words to
be said, we can hear our own heart talking to us. We
can hear our own soul and our own intuition. When
we allow ourselves to be quiet, to breathe in and
breathe out, without the need to force ourselves into
saying another word or think another thought, that‟s
when we can hear our inner voice, our heart, and
intuition. That‟s when we can experience our own
Divinity, our own beauty, and perfection.

Importance of stillness

Less stress:
Being in stillness reduces responses in the parasympathetic system,
which is responsible for fight or flight and increases responses in the
sympathetic system, responsible for rest and relaxation. In other
words, it calms your mind allowing you to feel more at peace and less
stressed out.

Creativity increases:
Being in stillness pulls you out of your left brain and allows your right
brain to be more activated. Your right brain is the creative center of
the brain. Increased activity in this area of the brain offers a change
in perspective and can often lead to unexpected outcomes.

Able to hear your own opinion:

There is a large group of voices out there trying to tell you how you
should be, what you should do and how you should look. When you
practice stillness, you learn to silence those voices and can more easily
tap into your thoughts, opinions to know what is true for you.

Increases listening skills:

As you learn to listen to be more present, a natural by-product is
you get better at listening to others. You stop waiting to talk and
instead learn to actually hear what others are saying and you
respond more effectively and empathetically.

Prologue of the poem :

KEEPING QUIET
“Keeping Quiet” is a peace poem written by the
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. He discusses the need of
maintaining peace and silence. He tells the
importance of keeping quiet for a while. He stresses
upon being quiet is harmless to the human beings,
animals and
environment. He
suggests that in
order to
maintain peace
and harmony
around the
world, stillness
is necessary.

Silence is a

source of

great strength

TITLE JUSTIFICATION
This title „Keeping Quiet‟ is apt for this poem as it
expresses what can happen as a result of keeping
quiet. It stresses the importance of introspection,
solitude and of stopping our work or any activity for
some time. The title throws light on the power of
quietness in resolving our personal issues and there is
life in nature, under apparent stillness. It is in fact,
one of the essential things to live a peaceful life. Only
by “keeping quiet” and introspecting on our actions,
we can hope to build a better world. The title of the
poem suggests that we must keep quiet for a moment.
There will be silence and all will set together and
realize the value of collectiveness. Here, we should
not confuse „stillness‟ with „total inactivity‟. Life
should go on as it is doing about. Even the nature
remains busy in doing some activity. The poem
stresses the significance of mutual understanding and
necessity for introspection.

ABOUT THE POET

Pablo Neruda, original name Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto,
(born July 12, 1904, Parral, Chile—died September 23, 1973,
Santiago), Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He was
the most important Latin American poet of the 20th century.
Neruda was a precocious boy who began to write poetry at
age 10. His father tried to discourage him from writing and
never cared for his poems Neruda first published his poems
in the local newspapers and later in magazines published in
the Chilean capital, Santiago. He wrote the poems in a
variety of styles, historical epics, overtly political manifestos,
a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems such as
the ones in his collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of
Despair (1924).

Theme of the poem

The main theme of the poem Keeping Quiet is Peace,
Fraternity and Unity. The poet, Pablo Neruda, urges
mankind to cease all activity for a little while. During
these few moments of silence and inactivity, all
human beings would be one, united, and in harmony
with each other and nature. This togetherness and
oneness is most desirable for the survival of the earth
and of human beings. Throughout the poem, the poet
talks about destruction caused by greed and
selfishness. We are destroying our environment,
killing our brothers and hurting ourselves and while
doing all this, we never introspect ourselves and our
actions.
According to the poet, if we stop doing everything
(like wars, deforestation , industrialization , killing
of animals, hurting ourselves) and instead remain
still and keep silence, we will be able to feel a
strange happiness. We will be able to introspect our
inner self which asks us to spread love and unity
instead of hate and greed.

MESSAGE OF THE POEM

The message of the poem Keeping Quiet is fraternity,
brotherhood, peace and love. Throughout the poem,
the poet is telling us to keep quiet. This will help us to
understand how we are destroying our environment
by deforestation, pollution and deadly wars. Not just
environment, we are killing animals, hurting
ourselves and killing each other for selfish reasons.
However, when we will be silent, we will be able to
introspect ourselves. As silence is understood
universally, there will be no language barrier and thus
we all will be one. There will be no hate or greed in
the world and thus it will be a better place to live.
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Literary devices USED

in the poem

1.Alliteration: It is the repetition of consonant

sounds at the beginning of words.
e.g. “we will count”, “sudden strangeness”,
“stop for one second”, “his hurt hands”,
“clean clothes”.
2.Repetition: It is the repetition of phrases in the
poem for poetic effect.
e.g. “without rush, without engines“.
3.Symbolism: The poet uses various symbols in
the poem.
 e.g. “Brothers” symbolise mankind, “green
wars” refer to deforestation, “wars with gas”
refers to pollution, “clean clothes” symbolise
change of perspective, “shade” symbolises
protection etc.

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4.Antithesis: It is just a position of opposing or
contrasting ideas.
e.g. “count to twelve and we will all keep still”.
Here counting and keeping still are contrasting
activities and are put together.
5.Personification: it is the attribution of human
characteristics to non-human things and animals.
e.g. “Earth can teach us as when everything“.
6.Metaphor: It is used to make a comparison
between two things that aren‟t alike but do have
something in common.
e.g. “shade” refers to protection.
7.Enjambment: It is the continuation of a
sentence to the next line/stanza. (In the poem,
many sentences continue to multiple lines.)
e.g. “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.” etc.

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overall view of the poem

In this poem, the poet has emphasised the need to
introspect and bring in the spirit of brotherhood
among the people of the world. He wants people to
stop talking and all movements symbolising
restlessness till he counts twelve. These moments of
silence would be strange and exotic because in our
life, we are working towards achieving selfish goals,
regardless of the others‟ requirements and emotions.
Hence, this sudden silence would give us an
opportunity to introspect. Since we would not speak
for a while, barriers between communities would
break and a sense of brotherhood would prevail. Man
would get an opportunity to realise how he is
destroying nature and how he is harming himself.
Futile wars against man and nature would be arrested
and a new feeling of unity would be experienced. The
poet does not want his desire for inactivity to be
misunderstood as a state of uselessness or in action.
He wants man to learn a lesson from the earth. The
earth appears to be inactive, yet it is selflessly
productive. Man too could be productive and
progressive without any aggression, selfishness and
the urge for destruction.
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BIBILIOGRAPHY
WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM

WWW.SUCCESSCDS.NET

WWW.ENGLISHNOTES.COM
WWW.POETRYFOUNDATION.OR
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REPORT OF THE PROJECT

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