NCERT Class 11 English Elective Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue

I approached a stem

Swinging on a reed

And asked him

To give me a quill.

                                Irritated, he said

                                I gave you one only the other day

                               A new one, what have you done with it?

                               Are you some sort of an accountant

With some Shah

Writing account books

Where you need a new pen

Every other day he asked.

                                 No, I don’t work for a Shah

                                I said, but for a Shahni, very kind,

                               Very well off

                               And I am not the only one

Working for her

She has many servants

Ever ready to do her bidding

That Shahni is my mother tongue Dogri

                                  Give me, a quill, quickly

                                  She must be looking for me

                                  The reed cut off its hand

                                   Gave it to me and said

                                            Take it.

UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

1. The quill is the central element in the poem—what does it symbolise?

2. You notice a sense of urgency in the poet’s request—what is the reason for this?

3. How has the poet brought out her emotional attachment to her mother tongue?

4. Personification is a figure of speech that attributes human qualities to inanimate things and abstract ideas. How has it been used in this poem?

TRY THIS OUT

1. Talk to five people from different spheres of society around you and ask them the number of languages they know and use for various purposes. Try to gather information about their attitude to the different languages they know and use.

2. Dogri is a language spoken in parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Its earliest mention is in Amir Khusro’s list of Indian languages. It does not have a script of its own. It is written in either the Devnagari or the Persian script. Find out about other Indian languages that are spoken but do not have a script of their own.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 English Elective Mother Tongue