First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Vicenta Millay

Edna Millay

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

Light

Second Fig

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

will not last the night

gives me such a fright

burns at both ends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
3

5

6

4
5 What is the name for a stanza with the amount of lines that this poem has?
quintet

quatrain

couplet

sextet
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
The form demonstrates the content.

She was too lazy to write more.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

The poem is incomplete.
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 faith

Religion

The speaker's life
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
A person who hates studying.

Wit and elegance.

The intelligence to create more light.

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?
Sight

Might

Kite

Light
12 What is the meter?
Blank verse

Common meter

Iambic pentameter

Free verse
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
Five and four

The syllables per line do not alternate

Eight and six

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

Alliteration

Personification

Rhyme
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
Seizing the Night

People-pleasing

Light and Vitality

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

Gorgeous

Radiant

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

Danger

Electricity

The speaker's vitality and passion
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
It means that she lived a public, authentic, and controversial lifestyle.

The speaker hated everyone.

The speaker was antisocial.

It is not relevant.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
A period

A question

An exclamation

A dash
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?
A Few Figs From Thistles

Collected Poems

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Second April
22 When was the collection published?
1922

1920

1925

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

1900

1880

1915
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Vermont

Florida

New York

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

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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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