I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Mermaids

Krakens

Whales

Frigates
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?

Frigates

Rowboats

Submarines

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

Anger to panic

Wonder to fear

Happiness to despair

Anxiety to comfort
5 What is the setting of the poem?

A coral reef

The beach

A harbor

The deck of a ship
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?

A whaling ship

Mermaids

The ocean

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The mermaids

The speaker's dog

The speaker

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

"Undine"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Little Mermaid"

"The Sea Lady"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?

2

12

3

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

Sirens

Salamanders

Selkies

Sea nymphs
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

None

ABAB

ABBA

ABCB
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

Ropes from a frigate

The hands of a mermaid

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

Uneasy

Insecure

Serene

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

A grain of a sand in the desert

A needle in a haystack

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

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

Captures the volatility and danger of the water
17 What is the climax of the poem?

The speaker seeing the mermaids

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker feeling like a mouse
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?

Irony

Onomatopoeia

Understatment

Personification
19 When was the poem published?

1861

1891

1981

1955
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The hempen hands

The speaker's dog

The masculine ocean

The mermaids
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 shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class

It connotes danger and panic

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator
23 How does the poem end?

With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's demise

With the swimming of mermaids

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

Ropes aboard a ship

The pull of the waves

Rock on the beach

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

Leviathan

The Loch Ness Monster

Mermaids

Sea serpents

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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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