19 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in the common exam-style shapes. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markWho wrote the poem ‘Keeping Quiet’?
(A) Adrienne Rich(B) Robert Frost(C) John Keats(D) Pablo Neruda - 1 markIn which country was Pablo Neruda born?
(A) Chile(B) Spain(C) Argentina(D) Mexico - 1 markWhat does the poet ask everyone to do at the start of the poem?
(A) Count to twelve and keep still(B) Sing together(C) Write a poem(D) Walk together - 1 markWhat would fishermen in the cold sea NOT do, according to the poem?
(A) Catch fish(B) Sail their boats(C) Mend their nets(D) Harm whales - 1 markWhat phrase does the poet use alongside ‘wars with gas, wars with fire’ in stanza 5?
(A) Trade wars(B) Silent wars(C) Green wars(D) Cold wars - 1 markWhat does the poet explicitly say his idea should NOT be confused with?
(A) War(B) Silence(C) Total inactivity(D) Nature - 1 markAccording to stanza 6, what is humanity ‘single-minded’ about?
(A) Learning languages(B) Building machines(C) Understanding nature(D) Keeping our lives moving - 1 markWhat does the poet say the Earth can teach us?
(A) How to travel(B) How to build houses(C) How to grow crops(D) That what seems dead can prove to be alive
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): The poem opens and closes with the image of counting to twelve.
Reason (R): A refrain is a line or image that is repeated, usually with some variation, at different points in a poem.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): The line ‘without rush, without engines’ is an example of anaphora.
Reason (R): Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): The poem can be read as carrying an anti-war message alongside its call to introspection.
Reason (R): Stanza 5 pictures war-makers who ‘would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing’.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch the poetic device in Column A with its example from the poem in Column B, and choose the correct combination.
Column A: (1) Framing repetition (2) Anaphora (3) Personification (4) Irony
Column B: (i) ‘wars with gas, wars with fire’ (ii) ‘Now we will count to twelve’ (stanza 1) and ‘Now I’ll count up to twelve’ (stanza 8) (iii) ‘victory with no survivors’ (iv) ‘Perhaps the Earth can teach us’
(A) 1-ii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-iii(B) 1-i, 2-ii, 3-iii, 4-iv(C) 1-iii, 2-iv, 3-i, 4-ii(D) 1-iv, 2-iii, 3-ii, 4-i
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markStatement I: The poem asks for a shared pause with no speech and with everyone keeping still.
Statement II: The poem asks for this pause to last forever.
(A) Both I and II are false(B) Both I and II are true(C) I is false, II is true(D) I is true, II is false
5 Arrange in the Correct Order
Arrange in the Correct Order
- 1 markArrange the following images from the poem in the order in which they appear.
(1) War-makers walking with their brothers, doing nothing
(2) Fishermen not harming whales
(3) The Earth teaching us that what seems dead can be alive
(4) Counting to twelve and keeping still
(A) 4, 2, 3, 1(B) 4, 1, 2, 3(C) 4, 2, 1, 3(D) 2, 4, 1, 3
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markIn stanza 1, complete: ‘Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep ______.’
(A) calm(B) still(C) silent(D) quiet
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markWhich of the following is the odd one out?
(A) Repetition(B) Personification(C) Rhyming couplets(D) Anaphora
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would look at his hurt hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victory with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing.
- 1 markAccording to this passage, what would the man gathering salt do?
(A) Go home early(B) Call the fishermen(C) Sell his salt(D) Look at his hurt hands - 1 markWhat would the war-makers do, according to this passage?
(A) Continue fighting(B) Write about their victories(C) Put on clean clothes and walk with their brothers(D) Leave the country
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 markRead the following statements and choose how many of them are TRUE.
(1) The poem is written by Pablo Neruda.
(2) The poem asks for total inactivity and death.
(3) The poem’s stanzas are all the same length.
(4) The poet won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(A) One(B) Two(C) Three(D) Four
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (D) The poem is written by Pablo Neruda, the pen name of Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto.
- (A) The book states Neruda was born in the town of Parral in Chile.
- (A) Stanza 1: ‘Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still.’
- (D) Stanza 4: ‘Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales’.
- (C) Stanza 5: ‘Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire’.
- (C) Stanza 6: ‘What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.’
- (D) Stanza 6: ‘If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving.’
- (D) Stanza 7: ‘Perhaps the Earth can teach us as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive.’
Assertion-Reason
- (B) Both A and R are true: the poem opens with ‘Now we will count to twelve’ (stanza 1) and closes with ‘Now I’ll count up to twelve’ (stanza 8). But R only defines a refrain; it does not give the cause of A, so R is not the correct explanation of A.
- (B) Both A and R are true: ‘without’ is repeated at the start of each phrase. But R only states the definition of anaphora; it does not explain A, so the answer is (B).
- (B) Both A and R are true. But R is the evidence a reader uses for the anti-war reading, not the cause of A, so R is not the correct explanation of A.
Match the Following
- (A) Framing repetition is the counting that opens and closes the poem (ii); anaphora is the repeated ‘wars with’ (i); personification gives the Earth a teacher’s role (iv); irony is a ‘victory’ that leaves no survivors (iii).
Statement-Based Questions
- (D) Statement I is true (stanzas 1-2). Statement II is false: the poet counts only ‘to twelve’ and then says ‘I will go’, so the pause is brief, not permanent.
Arrange in the Correct Order
- (C) The order follows the poem itself: stanza 1 (counting, item 4), stanza 4 (fishermen, item 2), stanza 5 (war-makers, item 1), stanza 7 (the Earth’s lesson, item 3).
Fill in the Blanks
- (B) Stanza 1 reads ‘and we will all keep still.’ ‘Quiet’ appears in the title and in stanza 8 (‘you keep quiet’), not in this line.
Odd One Out
- (C) The poem is written in free verse with no fixed rhyme scheme, so it does not use rhyming couplets; repetition, personification and anaphora are all genuinely present in the poem.
Passage-Based Questions
- (D) The passage says ‘the man gathering salt would look at his hurt hands.’
- (C) The passage says they ‘would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing.’
True / False
- (B) Statements 1 and 4 are true. Statement 2 is false: the poet explicitly rejects total inactivity and death (stanza 6). Statement 3 is false: the stanzas vary in length, from 2 lines (stanza 1) to 13 printed lines (stanza 6).
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