I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Krakens

Whales

Mermaids

Frigates
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?

Rowboats

Submarines

Luxury liners

Frigates
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?

Happiness to despair

Anxiety to comfort

Anger to panic

Wonder to fear
5 What is the setting of the poem?

The deck of a ship

The beach

A coral reef

A harbor
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?

Mermaids

Seagulls

The ocean

A whaling ship
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The speaker

The frigates

The mermaids

The speaker's dog
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?

"The Little Mermaid"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Sea Lady"

"Undine"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?

6

2

12

3
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?

Salamanders

Sea nymphs

Sirens

Selkies
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

None

ABAB

ABBA

ABCB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Herman Melville

Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?

The hands of a mermaid

Ropes from a frigate

The tide of the ocean

The arms of a man
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?

Insecure

Serene

Confident

Uneasy
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive

A grain of a sand in the desert

A needle in a haystack
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit
17 What is the climax of the poem?

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The speaker seeing the mermaids
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?

Irony

Personification

Onomatopoeia

Understatment
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1861

1891

1955
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The hempen hands

The speaker's dog

The mermaids

The masculine ocean
21 What best describes the poem's genre?

Light verse

Limerick

Romantic poetry

Nature poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?

It connotes danger and panic

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It underscores class

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves
23 How does the poem end?

With the swimming of mermaids

With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's demise

With the speaker's narrow escape
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?

The pull of the waves

Rock on the beach

Ropes aboard a ship

The hands of sea creature
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

Sea serpents

Leviathan

The Loch Ness Monster

Mermaids

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I Started Early — Took My Dog — study guide contains a biography of Emily Dickinson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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