First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Edna Millay

Vicenta Millay

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

Second Fig

Light

Candlelight
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"
gives me such a fright

will not last the night

belongs to my foes and my friends

burns at both ends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
5

6

4

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 was too lazy to write more.

The form demonstrates the content.

The poem is incomplete.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.
7 What do figs represent?
Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity

Patience, caution

Poison, shame, and disgust

Rottenness, bitterness in life
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?
A fast and intense lifestyle that leads to burnout or death.

Wit and elegance.

The intelligence to create more light.

A person who hates studying.
10 What word rhymes with "ends" in the poem?
Sends

Hens

Friends

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

Sight

Might

Kite
12 What is the meter?
Common meter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Blank 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 seven

Eight and six
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Personification

Alliteration

Rhyme

Metaphor
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?
Gorgeous

Beautiful

Lovely

Radiant
17 What does the light represent?
Electricity

The coming of day

The speaker's vitality and passion

Danger
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
It is not relevant.

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

The speaker hated everyone.

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

A period

A question

An exclamation
20 What is a spondee?
An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.

A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
A Few Figs From Thistles

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Collected Poems

Second April
22 When was the collection published?
1922

1923

1925

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

1900

1880

1915
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Florida

Maine

New York

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

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

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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