I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

By John Melendez · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed February 06, 2022

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Mermaids

Krakens

Whales

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?

Luxury liners

Frigates

Rowboats

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

Happiness to despair

Wonder to fear

Anger to panic

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

The beach

The deck of a ship

A harbor

A coral reef
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 speaker's dog

The speaker

The mermaids

The frigates
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?

2

12

6

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

Selkies

Sea nymphs

Sirens

Salamanders
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABAB

ABBA

None

ABCB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

H.G. Wells

Hans Christian Anderson

Herman Melville

Emily Dickinson
13 What grabs the speaker?

The hands of a mermaid

The arms of a man

The tide of the ocean

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

Serene

Insecure

Confident

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

A needle in a haystack

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive

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

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave
17 What is the climax of the poem?

The speaker seeing the mermaids

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker feeling like a mouse

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?

1861

1891

1955

1981
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The mermaids

The masculine ocean

The speaker's dog

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

Limerick

Light verse

Nature poetry

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 departure of a ship

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the swimming of mermaids

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

The pull of the waves

Ropes aboard a ship

The hands of sea creature

Rock on the beach
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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