First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Edna Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay

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

Candlelight

Light

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

gives me such a fright

burns at both ends

belongs to my foes and my friends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
5

4

6

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

quintet

quatrain

couplet
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

She was too lazy to write more.

The poem is incomplete.

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

Rottenness, bitterness in life

Poison, shame, and disgust

Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity
8 What does the candle represent?
Immortality

The speaker's life

The speaker's faith

Religion
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
Wit and elegance.

The intelligence to create more light.

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?
Lends

Sends

Friends

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

Might

Light

Sight
12 What is the meter?
Free verse

Common meter

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
The syllables per line do not alternate

Eight and six

Five and four

Eight and seven
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Rhyme

Alliteration

Metaphor

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

Seizing the Night

People-pleasing

Challenging Gender Norms
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Lovely

Gorgeous

Beautiful

Radiant
17 What does the light represent?
Electricity

The coming of day

Danger

The speaker's vitality and passion
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
The speaker hated everyone.

It means that she lived a public, authentic, and controversial lifestyle.

It is not relevant.

The speaker was antisocial.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
A question

A dash

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.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Second April

Collected Poems

A Few Figs From Thistles
22 When was the collection published?
1923

1925

1920

1922
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1892

1915

1900

1880
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Maine

Vermont

Florida

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

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

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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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