since feeling is first Quizzes

since feeling is first Quiz

1 Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of "since feeling is first"?
Love is but an illusion.

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

Both in love and in life, you must prioritize feeling over thinking.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?
Emotion

Reason

Inefficiency

Love
3 Why is the person "who pays any attention to the syntax of things" unable to "wholly kiss" the addressee?
Because this person has a short attention span

Because this person is too emotional for the addressee

Because a kiss requires feeling, and this person prioritizes reason over feeling

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar
4 Which of the following best describes the form and meter of this poem?
Ballad meter

Sonnet

Blank verse

Free verse
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?
Life and death

Language

Love

Religion
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
"laugh, leaning”

“feeling is first”

“eyelids’ flutter”

“death i think is no parenthesis”
7 What is ironic about this poem?
Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.

We know, but the speaker does not, that this love is going to fail.

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

It is not actually about feeling.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?
Evocative of the structure of another poem

Heavily based on repetition

Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Following a linear narrative
9 Which of the following is a personification?
“my blood approves"

"kisses are a better fate"

"i swear by all flowers"

"life's not a paragraph"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?
Pessimistic

Philosophical

Assertive

Affectionate
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?
Urban

Pastoral

Unspecified, abstract

Intergalactic
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
“your eyelids’”

“my brain”

“my blood”

"Spring is in the world"
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?
Aging, senility, and vulnerability

Death, trauma, and pain

War, violence, and discord

Fertility, vitality, and youth
14 Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning that "flowers" may have in this poem?
Nature

Artificiality

Ephemerality

Fertility
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?
"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

Hot water "springs" are good for "blood" circulation.

"Blood" can "spring" forth.

The speaker is trying to be resilient like a "spring" after witnessing "bloodshed" and violence.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?
Death is not something we should keep in mind in everyday life.

Death is something that can be ignored.

What happens after death is a mystery.

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?
She believes in logic and reason.

She is more religious.

She is more aggressive.

She is less optimistic.
18 "since feeling is first" was published in which of the following books?
The Enormous Room

EIMI

Tulips & Chimneys

is 5
19 In what year was this poem published?
1946

1916

1936

1926
20 Which of the following best describes the collection in which this poem was published?
Kitsch and cheesy

Violent and gory

Experimental and unconventional

Traditional and conforming
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?
"[...] is less than [...]"

"i swear by all flowers"

"we are for each other"

"wholly to be a fool"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?
It is evocative of the word "holy."

It is used in an alliteration.

It is repeated twice.

It evokes a sense of holiness and sacredness in addition to perfection.
23 "the best gesture of my brain is less than / your eyelids’ flutter" is an example of which of the following?
Personification

Asyndeton

Alliteration

Synecdoche
24 "laugh, leaning back in my arms / for life’s not a paragraph" does NOT contain which of the following?
Alliteration

Sarcasm

Synecdoche

Metaphor
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?
It is parallel to the word "parenthesis" in the subsequent line.

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

It may symbolize the simplicity of linguistic constructs.

It is antithetical to the word "syntax" in an earlier stanza.

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