I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Whales

Mermaids

Frigates

Krakens
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Rowboats

Frigates

Submarines

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?
The deck of a ship

A coral reef

The beach

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

Mermaids

A whaling ship

The ocean
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

12

6
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Selkies

Sea nymphs

Salamanders

Sirens
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
None

ABCB

ABBA

ABAB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells

Herman Melville
13 What grabs the speaker?
The tide of the ocean

The hands of a mermaid

The arms of a man

Ropes from a frigate
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Serene

Confident

Uneasy

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

A needle in a haystack

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A grain of a sand in the desert
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?
Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave
17 What is the climax of the poem?
The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The arrival of the speaker's dog

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?
Personification

Understatment

Onomatopoeia

Irony
19 When was the poem published?
1955

1981

1861

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The mermaids

The hempen hands

The speaker's dog

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

Limerick

Light verse

Nature poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class
23 How does the poem end?
With the swimming of mermaids

With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the speaker's demise
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?
Ropes aboard a ship

The hands of sea creature

Rock on the beach

The pull of the waves
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?
The Loch Ness Monster

Sea serpents

Mermaids

Leviathan

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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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