Mother Tongue
Give me a quill
Explain the symbol of the quill and how the poem uses personification.
In Padma Sachdev's poem 'Mother Tongue', translated from Dogri, the poet asks a reed for a quill: a pen cut from the reed's stem.
The reed is annoyed. It gave her a quill only the other day, it says. Does she keep accounts for some rich trader, that she needs so many pens?
She says no. She serves a kind and wealthy lady (a 'Shahni'): her mother tongue, Dogri, who has many servants, and she is one of them.
She asks for the quill quickly, because her mistress must be looking for her.
Hearing this, the reed cuts off its own 'hand' and gives it to her, saying that it, too, is a servant of Dogri.
The reed speaks like a person: the poem uses personification. The quill stands for writing in one's own language. Even the reed, the poem suggests, serves the mother tongue.
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