First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Vicenta Millay

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

Light

Candlelight

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

burns at both ends

will not last the night

gives me such a fright
4 How many lines are in the poem?
6

4

5

3
5 What is the name for a stanza with the amount of lines that this poem has?
quintet

couplet

sextet

quatrain
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

Rottenness, bitterness in life

Patience, caution

Poison, shame, and disgust
8 What does the candle represent?
Religion

The speaker's life

Immortality

The speaker's faith
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
The intelligence to create more light.

A person who hates studying.

Wit and elegance.

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

Friends

Hens

Lends
11 What word rhymes with "night" in the poem?
Light

Might

Sight

Kite
12 What is the meter?
Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

Common meter
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
Eight and seven

Eight and six

The syllables per line do not alternate

Five and four
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Alliteration

Metaphor

Rhyme

Personification
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
Challenging Gender Norms

Seizing the Night

Light and Vitality

People-pleasing
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Gorgeous

Radiant

Beautiful

Lovely
17 What does the light represent?
Electricity

The speaker's vitality and passion

The coming of day

Danger
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 dash

An exclamation

A question
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?
Collected Poems

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

A Few Figs From Thistles

Second April
22 When was the collection published?
1925

1922

1920

1923
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1892

1900

1880

1915
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
New York

Florida

Vermont

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

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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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