I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Frigates

Mermaids

Whales

Krakens
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Luxury liners

Rowboats

Submarines

Frigates
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?
Happiness to despair

Anger to panic

Anxiety to comfort

Wonder to fear
5 What is the setting of the poem?
The deck of a ship

A coral reef

A harbor

The beach
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
A whaling ship

Mermaids

The ocean

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker

The frigates

The mermaids

The speaker's dog
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Little Mermaid"

"The Sea Lady"

"Undine"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
3

12

2

6
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Salamanders

Sea nymphs

Sirens

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

ABAB

ABCB

None
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
H.G. Wells

Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson

Herman Melville
13 What grabs the speaker?
The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid

The tide of the ocean

Ropes from a frigate
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Uneasy

Insecure

Confident

Serene
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A needle in a haystack

A bee in a hive

A grain of a sand in the desert

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?
Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave
17 What is the climax of the poem?
The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The speaker seeing the mermaids
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?
Personification

Onomatopoeia

Irony

Understatment
19 When was the poem published?
1861

1955

1891

1981
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The mermaids

The speaker's dog

The hempen hands

The masculine ocean
21 What best describes the poem's genre?
Nature poetry

Limerick

Light verse

Romantic poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It underscores class

It connotes danger and panic
23 How does the poem end?
With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's demise

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the departure of a ship
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?
The hands of sea creature

Rock on the beach

The pull of the waves

Ropes aboard a ship
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?
Mermaids

Sea serpents

The Loch Ness Monster

Leviathan

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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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