I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Mermaids

Whales

Frigates

Krakens
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Frigates

Submarines

Luxury liners

Rowboats
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?
Anxiety to comfort

Happiness to despair

Wonder to fear

Anger to panic
5 What is the setting of the poem?
The beach

A coral reef

A harbor

The deck of a ship
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
The ocean

Seagulls

A whaling ship

Mermaids
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker's dog

The mermaids

The speaker

The frigates
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"The Little Mermaid"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"Undine"

"The Sea Lady"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
3

12

6

2
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Sea nymphs

Salamanders

Selkies

Sirens
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA

None

ABCB

ABAB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Herman Melville

H.G. Wells

Emily Dickinson

Hans Christian Anderson
13 What grabs the speaker?
The hands of a mermaid

Ropes from a frigate

The arms of a man

The tide of the ocean
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Confident

Serene

Insecure

Uneasy
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A needle in a haystack

A grain of a sand in the desert

A bee in a hive
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?
Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave
17 What is the climax of the poem?
The speaker seeing the mermaids

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker's attempt to escape the water
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?
Personification

Understatment

Onomatopoeia

Irony
19 When was the poem published?
1981

1955

1891

1861
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The hempen hands

The masculine ocean

The mermaids

The speaker's dog
21 What best describes the poem's genre?
Romantic poetry

Light verse

Limerick

Nature poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It connotes danger and panic

It underscores class

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator
23 How does the poem end?
With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's demise
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?
The hands of sea creature

Ropes aboard a ship

Rock on the beach

The pull of the waves
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?
Leviathan

Sea serpents

Mermaids

The Loch Ness Monster

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I Started Early — Took My Dog — study guide contains a biography of Emily Dickinson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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