I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Frigates

Krakens

Mermaids

Whales
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Submarines

Rowboats

Frigates

Luxury liners
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?
Anxiety to comfort

Wonder to fear

Anger to panic

Happiness to despair
5 What is the setting of the poem?
A coral reef

A harbor

The deck of a ship

The beach
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
Mermaids

A whaling ship

The ocean

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker

The mermaids

The speaker's dog

The frigates
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"The Sea Lady"

"The Little Mermaid"

"Undine"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
2

3

6

12
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Sirens

Salamanders

Sea nymphs

Selkies
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA

None

ABCB

ABAB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Emily Dickinson

Hans Christian Anderson

Herman Melville

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?
The arms of a man

The tide of the ocean

Ropes from a frigate

The hands of a mermaid
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Uneasy

Serene

Insecure

Confident
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A bee in a hive

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A needle in a haystack

A grain of a sand in the desert
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?
Captures the volatility and danger of the water

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

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit
17 What is the climax of the poem?
The speaker seeing the mermaids

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker's attempt to escape the water
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?
Personification

Understatment

Irony

Onomatopoeia
19 When was the poem published?
1891

1981

1861

1955
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The speaker's dog

The mermaids

The masculine ocean

The hempen hands
21 What best describes the poem's genre?
Limerick

Nature poetry

Light verse

Romantic poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator
23 How does the poem end?
With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's demise

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the departure of a ship
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?
Rock on the beach

Ropes aboard a ship

The hands of sea creature

The pull of the waves
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?
Mermaids

Leviathan

Sea serpents

The Loch Ness Monster

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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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