First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

1 What is the poet's full name?
Edna Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Vicenta Millay

Edna Millay
2 What is the title of the poem?
First Fig

Light

Second Fig

Candlelight
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"
belongs to my foes and my friends

will not last the night

gives me such a fright

burns at both ends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
3

5

4

6
5 What is the name for a stanza with the amount of lines that this poem has?
quintet

couplet

quatrain

sextet
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
She was too lazy to write more.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

The poem is incomplete.

The form demonstrates the content.
7 What do figs represent?
Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity

Poison, shame, and disgust

Patience, caution

Rottenness, bitterness in life
8 What does the candle represent?
Religion

Immortality

The speaker's faith

The speaker's life
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
A person who hates studying.

The intelligence to create more light.

Wit and elegance.

A fast and intense lifestyle that leads to burnout or death.
10 What word rhymes with "ends" in the poem?
Hens

Lends

Friends

Sends
11 What word rhymes with "night" in the poem?
Sight

Light

Might

Kite
12 What is the meter?
Blank verse

Free verse

Common meter

Iambic pentameter
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
Five and four

The syllables per line do not alternate

Eight and six

Eight and seven
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Alliteration

Rhyme

Metaphor

Personification
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
People-pleasing

Challenging Gender Norms

Seizing the Night

Light and Vitality
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Lovely

Radiant

Beautiful

Gorgeous
17 What does the light represent?
The speaker's vitality and passion

Danger

Electricity

The coming of day
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
It is not relevant.

The speaker hated everyone.

The speaker was antisocial.

It means that she lived a public, authentic, and controversial lifestyle.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
A period

A question

A dash

An exclamation
20 What is a spondee?
A foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Collected Poems

A Few Figs From Thistles

Second April
22 When was the collection published?
1923

1925

1920

1922
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1892

1915

1880

1900
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
New York

Vermont

Florida

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

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Study Guide for First Fig

First Fig study guide contains a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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