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Mother Tongue – Class 11 English Chapter 14 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 11EnglishChapter 14NCERT book: Woven Words (Elective) - English Class 11

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 14 of the NCERT Class 11 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 14: Mother Tongue (Poem)

About the Poet

Padma Sachdev (born 1940) writes in her mother tongue Dogri and in Hindi. She has received many awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award at the age of thirty for her first collection of Dogri poems. This poem is translated from the original Dogri.

The book explains the background: the poem *bemoans the loss of Dogri's native script, Sharade*, which evolved from the original Brahmi around the time Dogri developed. Once used widely by people of all religions in the valley, Sharade was replaced by the Persian script. Today both Persian and Devanagari scripts are used for Dogri, a language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India**.

The Poem — Meaning

The request

I approached a stem / Swinging on a reed / And asked him / To give me a quill.

The poet asks a reed for a quill (a reed pen used for writing).

The reed's irritation

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.

The reed is annoyed: it gave her a new pen only recently. Is she an accountant working for some Shah (a rich merchant), writing account books that use up pens every other day?

The poet's answer

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

She works not for a Shah but for a Shahni (a rich lady) — kind and well off — who has many servants ready to serve her. That Shahni is her mother tongue, Dogri. Writers of Dogri are its servants.

The urgency and the sacrifice

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 / I too am her servant.

She urgently asks for the quill because her mother tongue "must be looking for" her. Moved, the reed cuts off its own hand (a part of itself) to make a quill, saying, "I too am her servant."

Themes

  • Love and devotion to one's mother tongue.
  • Service and sacrifice — even nature (the reed) serves the language.
  • Cultural loss and preservation — the lost script Sharade; writers keep the language alive.

    • Literary Devices

  • Personification — the reed talks, gets irritated, cuts off its hand, and calls itself a servant; Dogri is a Shahni.
  • Symbolism — the quill symbolises the act of writing and the means to serve and preserve the language.
  • Dialogue form — a conversation between the poet and the reed.
  • Metaphor — mother tongue as a rich, kind Shahni with many servants.

    • Word Power

  • reed — tall grass-like plant (सरकंडा / नरकट)
  • quill — pen made from a reed or feather (क़लम)
  • stem — main stalk of a plant (तना / डंठल)
  • Shah — rich merchant or king (शाह / सेठ)
  • Shahni — wife of a Shah; rich lady (शाहनी / सेठानी)
  • bidding — command (आदेश)
  • accountant — keeper of accounts (मुनीम)
  • script — writing system (लिपि)

    • Exam Focus

    From Understanding the Poem and Try This Out:

  • What does the quill symbolise? — The power of writing; the tool through which the poet serves and preserves her mother tongue.
  • Why the sense of urgency? — Dogri, the "Shahni", "must be looking for" her; she feels a duty to write for the language without delay.
  • How does the poet show her emotional attachment? — She calls Dogri a kind, rich Shahni and herself a proud servant; she urgently seeks a pen to serve it.
  • How is personification used? — The reed speaks, grows irritated, sacrifices its hand, and declares itself Dogri's servant; the language is personified as a Shahni.
  • Try This Out — Dogri is spoken in parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab; its earliest mention is in Amir Khusro's list of Indian languages; it is written in Devanagari or Persian script.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Thinking the poet works for a Shah — she works for a Shahni, her mother tongue.
  • Missing the symbolic sacrifice of the reed ("cut off its hand").
  • Forgetting that the poem is a translation from Dogri.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Understand that the Shahni in the poem is the poet's mother tongue, Dogri.
    • ✓Explain the symbolism of the quill as the means of writing and serving a language.
    • ✓Identify personification of the reed and of the language.
    • ✓Know the background of Dogri and its lost native script Sharade.
    • ✓Appreciate the theme of devotion to and preservation of one's mother tongue.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Show a picture of a reed pen (qalam) and explain how quills were made.
    • →Ask students which languages they speak at home and how they feel about them.
    • →Map where Dogri is spoken: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab.
    • →Discuss the Eighth Schedule and the importance of preserving Indian languages.
    • →Have students conduct the language survey suggested in Try This Out.
    • →Compare with Raghuvir Sahay's poem 'Hindi' (suggested reading).

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student explain what the quill symbolises?
    2. Can the student explain the reason for the poet's urgency?
    3. Can the student identify who the Shahni is?
    4. Can the student explain how personification is used?
    5. Can the student state facts about Dogri and its script from the book?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Woven Words (Elective) - English Class 11

    1. 1. The Lament
    2. 2. A Pair of Mustachios
    3. 3. The Rocking-horse Winner
    4. 4. The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
    5. 5. Pappachi's Moth
    6. 6. The Third and Final Continent
    7. 7. Glory at Twilight
    8. 8. The Luncheon
    9. 9. The Peacock
    10. 10. Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds
    11. 11. Coming
    12. 12. Telephone Conversation
    13. 13. The World is too Much With Us
    14. 14. Mother Tongue
    15. 15. Hawk Roosting
    16. 16. For Elkana
    17. 17. Refugee Blues
    18. 18. Felling of the Banyan Tree
    19. 19. Ode to a Nightingale
    20. 20. Ajamil and the Tigers
    21. 21. My Watch
    22. 22. My Three Passions
    23. 23. Patterns of Creativity
    24. 24. Tribal Verse
    25. 25. What is a Good Book?
    26. 26. The Story
    27. 27. Bridges