First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna Vincent Millay

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

Candlelight

Second Fig

Light
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"
will not last the night

burns at both ends

gives me such a fright

belongs to my foes and my friends
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?
sextet

couplet

quintet

quatrain
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
The poem is incomplete.

She was too lazy to write more.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

The form demonstrates the content.
7 What do figs represent?
Patience, caution

Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity

Rottenness, bitterness in life

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.

Wit and elegance.

A person who hates studying.

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

Friends

Lends

Hens
11 What word rhymes with "night" in the poem?
Kite

Might

Light

Sight
12 What is the meter?
Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Common meter

Blank verse
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
Eight and six

Five and four

Eight and seven

The syllables per line do not alternate
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Personification

Metaphor

Rhyme

Alliteration
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
Light and Vitality

Challenging Gender Norms

People-pleasing

Seizing the Night
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Radiant

Gorgeous

Lovely

Beautiful
17 What does the light represent?
The coming of day

Danger

The speaker's vitality and passion

Electricity
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
The speaker hated everyone.

It is not relevant.

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 dash

A question

An exclamation

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

A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Second April

A Few Figs From Thistles

Collected Poems
22 When was the collection published?
1922

1925

1923

1920
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1892

1900

1915

1880
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
New York

Florida

Vermont

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

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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