NCERT Books for Class 11 English Hornbill

Those students who are in Class 11 searching for a good book for English can look into the Class 11 NCERT Books for English Hornbill Free PDF Download which will allow them to check out a collection of prose that are gathered from authors all around the world. These prose pieces that are mentioned in the English Class 11 book PDF have been chosen in such a way that it connects to the minds of the students. Also, these pieces that have been selected are not from a single literary genre instead they have been specifically chosen from travelogues, biographies, science fiction and so on so that students get a vast idea about all the types of genres involved. Through Vedantu students can now download the Class 11 NCERT Books for English Hornbill Free PDF Download free of charge and can access them anytime they would like to. 

NCERT Books for CBSE Class 11 English Hornbill PDF Free Download

Hornbill textbook PDF published by NCERT is prescribed as the main English text for the CBSE class 11 curriculum. The prose pieces from class 11 Hornbill book have been picked carefully from different sources like biography, travelogue, science fiction, essays, etc. The writing skill section guides them on various forms of writing, such as letter writing, creative writing, note-taking, summarizing, etc., which may come in handy after they leave school. Given below are short summaries of chapters from Hornbill class 11 book.

Unit 1: The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a lady is written by Khushwant Singh, where the author describes different stages of his relationship with his grandmother. When the story unfolds, we see the author living alone with his grandmother in the village as his parents had gone to the city in search of a livelihood. The author and his grandmother were good friends, but the turning point in their friendship came when they went to town. He went to an English school, and his grandmother couldn’t keep up anymore, so they grew distant and saw less of each other. At this point, there was only a common link of friendship between them – a shared room.

However, when the author got a room of his own in university, this common link got snapped. His grandmother grew secluded and rarely talked to anyone. The story included in the NCERT Hornbill textbook PDF ends with his grandmother celebrating his return from abroad by singing songs of homecoming warriors. She falls ill the next day and passes away peacefully.

Unit 1: A Photograph

The first part of this poem talks about a photograph of the poet’s mother and her two cousins at sea. In the second part, the poet's mother laughs while looking at the picture and feels sad at the loss of her childhood joys and pleasure. In the third stage, the poet’s mother has passed away, and the poet is trying to come to terms with the loss of her mother. The poem from Hornbill textbook PDF contrasts the transient state of human lives with the timelessness of nature. It also sheds light on the three different stages in a human being’s life – childhood, adulthood, and death.

Unit 2: ‘We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together.’

The narrator and his significant other arrange a journey all over the planet actually like renowned Captain James Cook. They have been planning and consummating their nautical abilities for the past 16 years. They get a boat which is 23 meters in length and gauges 30 tons wooden-hulled, named Wave Walker. They test it in the unpleasant climate for a long time.

In July 1976, they all began their excursion from Plymouth, England. They sailed from Africa to Cape Town which was a significant and wonderful excursion. Before travelling East, the storyteller employed two crew members, Larry Vigil, and Herb Seigler, to assist them with handling one of the harshest oceans – the Southern Indian Ocean. They experience disturbing waves during the subsequent day. By December 25, they all figured out how to arrive 35,000 kilometres east of Cape Town. The family, some way or another, figures out how to outperform the awful climate and observes Christmas together.

The climate changes for the more regrettable and on January 2, the enormous waves hit them. They attempt to dial the boat back by dropping a tempest jib and hit a weighty securing rope in a circle across a hump, yet it doesn't help a lot. They convey their life-pontoon drill, connect lifesavers, wear life jackets and oilskins. Afterwards, in the evening, a vertical and enormous wave strikes the boat and the storyteller is lost from the boat. He acknowledges his 'moving toward death' and starts blacking out. At this point, the boat is hit by a tremendous wave again and turns it right back. He endures wounds in the ribs and mouth. He gets the gatekeeper rail and sails into the boat's fundamental blast. He trains his significant other Mary to monitor the wheel as he understands that the boat has water in the lower parts. His crew member begins siphoning out the water. The storyteller goes to his kids' lodge and keeps an eye on them. His little girl, Sue, illuminates him about a knock on her head which he disregards since his central issue is to save the boat.

The storyteller waters sealing on the vast openings. This makes water go astray on the right side. The hand siphon gets impeded because of trash and the electric-siphon gets short-circuited. Be that as it may, he later tracks down an extra electric siphon and associates it to deplete the water. They all continue to siphon the water the entire evening. Their Mayday calls are not replied to as they are in the remotest corner of the world. Sue, then again, has now an enlarged bruised eye and a profound cut in her arm. On receiving some information about her wounds, she lets him know she didn't need him to stress as he was attempting to save them. Following 15 hours the circumstance is fixed. The storyteller chooses to work in turn and rests. The water levels are controlled however the holes were still there, beneath the waterline.

Unit 3: Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues

This chapter from class 11 English Hornbill book investigates the death of the teenage Egyptian King Tutankhamun. His tomb was discovered in 1922, and since then there has been speculation as to the cause of his death. Eighty years after this event, his body was being taken from his resting place for a CT scan to solve the mystery of his death, supervised by Zahi Hawass, the secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. On the night of the scan, his body was carried in a box from his tomb to be scanned. The machine scanned the king’s body from head to toe to reveal a transection of his skull, several views of rib cages, hands etc. Using these images and others, a team of forensics, radiology, anatomy will probe into the secrets of his death.

Unit 3: The Laburnum Top

The poem from Hornbill textbook PDF is about a Laburnum tree whose top is still and silent on a September afternoon filled with sunlight. Because of the stillness and silence, the tree is like an empty, hollow object – something which shows no sign of life. Then, a Goldfinch appears and sits on this tree, and it seems that the chirruping sound made by the bird made the tree come alive. The movement of the bird as she enters the tree is described as alert, abrupt and as sleek as a lizard. 

She probably has a nest with her young ones who start chittering, trilling and flapping their wings, which are compared to a machine starting, with the bird being the engine of her family. Hence, when she flies away, her young ones fall silent, and the tree becomes empty and lifeless again.

Unit 4: The Landscape of the Soul

This prose in the Hornbill textbook PDF is a blend of two types of art forms - eastern and western. To highlight the difference between these two, the writer gives examples of two folktales – one from China and another from his native Flanders. In the Chinese story, artist Wu Daozi commissioned by the emperor drew a landscape on a palace wall. While the emperor admired this painting, Wu Daozi proclaimed that the inside of this art to be more amazing than its outside clapped his hand and entered the painting, never to be seen again.

The folktale from Flanders is about a blacksmith who entered a painter’s studio and drew a fly on the wall to impress the painter. The fly was so lifelike that at first, the artist tried to kill it, but when he realised it was a drawing, he hired the blacksmith as his apprentice. From these stories, we understand that European paintings aim to imitate life and achieve an exact likeness. Whereas in eastern paintings, the artist wants the viewers to interpret an inner and spiritual meaning of art.

Unit 4: The Voice of the Rain

This piece by Walt Whitman in Hornbill textbook PDF celebrates rain which has been called the poem of earth. This masterpiece goes on to describe the process of the water cycle – water rising from land and sea towards the sky where the water droplets join to form clouds. Then the clouds come down as rain to wash away dry and dusty earth, helping all unborn seeds to create new life. This cyclic process of rain rising from land and sea and giving back to its place of origin is forever. A parallel has also been drawn between rain and song – both after originating from their birthplace wanders to distant lands to fulfil their purpose. Then they return to their origin with love.

Unit 5: The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement’s Role

In this essay from Hornbill textbook PDF, the writer talks about the green movement’s role in saving our ailing planet. This movement has played a significant role in creating awareness among all about the importance of the preservation of natural resources. Consequently, a shift has been observed from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological view of the world. Furthermore, the world commission on environment and development popularised the concept of sustainable development.

It presented several factors which are affecting such development. These include the overuse of biological systems like fisheries, forests, water bodies along with the world’s population growth at an exponential rate.

Unit 6: The Browning Version

An excerpt in Hornbill textbook PDF is taken from the play The Browning Version, where a conversation is presented between a student and a teacher – Taplow and Frank. Taplow has come in to do extra work for another teacher Mr Crocker-Harris. They talk about Mr Crocker Harris, and Taplow informs Frank he wished to take up science if he gets satisfactory results and that he considers Aeschylus to be muck. Here, readers come to know a lot about Mr Crocker-Harris from Taplow’s description such as he is different from other teachers in the schools, he is a stickler for rules and he is not a sadist like others. Taplow also goes on to mimic Mr Crocker-Harris. However, when Frank suggests he go off to play golf instead for Mr Crocker-Harris, Taplow refuses because he likes the teacher to some extent and fears him. In the end, Millie Crocker-Harris sends him on an errand. 

Unit 6: Childhood 

This is a poem by Markus Natten, where the poet wonders when he lost his childhood innocence. In its first stanza, he wonders whether it was the day he turned eleven or when he realised that heaven and hell could not be found on a map and therefore did not exist. In the second stanza, the poet ponders that maybe he lost his childhood innocence the day he realised that adults are hypocrites - they talk of love but do not act lovingly or kindly.

The poet speculates that maybe he lost his childhood innocence because he understood finally that his mind is his own, capable of unique thoughts and can be used in whichever way he chose to. In the last stanza of this poem from Hornbill textbook PDF, the poet asks where his childhood was lost and goes on to answer that all he knows is that it went to a forgotten place which is hidden in an infant’s face.

Unit 7: The Adventure

This story from Hornbill textbook PDF belongs to the science fiction genre. Its main character is a history professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde who has arrived at a parallel India where Marathas won the battle of Panipat, and the East India Company was still ruling. He went to a library to learn more about these incidents that took place in this parallel world. As the library was closing, the professor slipped a book into his pocket and left. He checked into a guestroom for a night. After dinner, he met with an accident and lost consciousness. 

When he opened his eyes, he saw Rajendra Deshpande in front of him. He was amazed when the professor told him what happened and stated two theories could explain what happened to him – Catastrophe theory and lack of determinism in Quantum theory.

Unit 8: Silk Road

The piece in Hornbill textbook PDF is taken from a travelogue by the writer detailing his experiences of when he went to Mount Kailash for Kora or pilgrimage. His trip took him along the ancient trade route known as the silk route after which this travelogue has been named. Along his way, the author met nomad shepherds tending to their flock and their tents guarded by Tibetan mastiffs. The roads were slippery with sharp turns. Atmospheric pressure also dropped. When they reached Darchen, which was dusty and sparsely populated, the author experienced blocked nose and breathing trouble because of high altitude. At Darchen, he met Norbu in its only café, who was there for the pilgrimage too. He and Norbu decided to go for it together.

Unit 8: Father to Son

This poem from Hornbill textbook PDF highlights the problem of the generation gap and the lack of communication that is faced by parents and children all over the world. In its first stanza itself, the father laments that he doesn’t understand his child anymore, even though they lived in the same house for years. Therefore, he tries to build a relationship with his son based on what he knew about him when he was small. However, the connection between them is lost – the father blames himself for this. He says that they speak like strangers now and that there is no trace of understanding between them. Even though his son looks like him, he doesn’t know what he likes. In the last stanza of this poem from Hornbill textbook PDF, the son speaks for the first time. He too feels sad at such a loss of understanding between them. They both extend an empty hand towards each other, wishing to mend the distance between them.

Why NCERT Books are Students’ Favourite?

NCERT books like the Hornbill textbook in English for class 11 are student favourites for multiple reasons. Some of them include the following.

Handy for Exam Preparation – NCERT textbooks come in handy while preparing for examinations. It is because they are framed according to the guidelines set by NCERT and follow them strictly. Therefore, students of the CBSE board can refer to NCERT textbooks to alleviate any confusion regarding the syllabus before starting with their exam preparation. Several entrance exams are also conducted based on the CBSE syllabus, so students from other boards can also avail of NCERT textbooks to prepare for them. 

Promote Improved Understanding – These textbooks are designed by scholars and professors experts in their respective fields. They also have extensive teaching experience; hence, they understand student requirements and curate these textbooks accordingly in clear and lucid language. Moreover, the fundamental concepts are explained clearly with instances. They also come with charts, tables and images so that one can have an encompassing idea of the text’s context.

Multiple Exercises for Practise – The NCERT textbooks come with numerous tasks at the end of a chapter so that students can check their understanding of the text by practising them. These exercises are framed on various aspects of the books. For instance, NCERT class 11 English Hornbill book contains exercises on reading comprehension, language-based questions, use of words etc. Furthermore, the questions are also based on the CBSE examination patterns. They include long questions, short answer types, multiple type questions, and so on. 

Activity-based Approach- Apart from text-based questions, books like Hornbill textbook PDFs also contain activity-based questions such as class discussions. It helps them to view the text from a different perspective. These activities vary for each subject. However, they facilitate students to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-life situations.

Why is Vedantu the Best for Enhanced Learning?

Vedantu’s online education platform offers customised solutions for NCERT Hornbill textbook PDF to help students gain a deeper understanding of the text. Students can also avail solved question answers for Hornbill English book class 11, which will help them to revise well for examinations. Apart from that, they can also opt for online interactive lessons by subject experts who help students pick up the required knowledge at their own pace.

Other Free CBSE Class 11 English Study Material

Other Free Study CBSE Material for Class 11