First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Vicenta Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna Millay
2 What is the title of the poem?
Candlelight

Light

Second Fig

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

gives me such a fright

will not last the night

burns at both ends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
4

3

6

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

couplet

quatrain

sextet
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
She was too lazy to write more.

The poem is incomplete.

The form demonstrates the content.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.
7 What do figs represent?
Poison, shame, and disgust

Patience, caution

Rottenness, bitterness in life

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

The speaker's life

Religion

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

Lends

Hens

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

Might

Light

Sight
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

Five and four

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

Rhyme

Personification

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

People-pleasing

Seizing the Night

Light and Vitality
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Beautiful

Gorgeous

Lovely

Radiant
17 What does the light represent?
Danger

The coming of day

Electricity

The speaker's vitality and passion
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
It is not relevant.

The speaker was antisocial.

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

The speaker hated everyone.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
An exclamation

A question

A dash

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?
A Few Figs From Thistles

Second April

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Collected Poems
22 When was the collection published?
1923

1922

1925

1920
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1915

1900

1880

1892
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Vermont

New York

Maine

Florida
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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