I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Krakens

Frigates

Whales

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

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

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

Rowboats

Frigates

Luxury liners

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

Wonder to fear

Anxiety to comfort

Happiness to despair

Anger to panic
5 What is the setting of the poem?

A coral reef

A harbor

The beach

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

A whaling ship

The ocean

Mermaids

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The speaker's dog

The mermaids

The speaker

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

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Sea Lady"

"The Little Mermaid"

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

12

6

2

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

Salamanders

Sirens

Selkies

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

None

ABCB

ABAB

ABBA
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Herman Melville

Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?

Ropes from a frigate

The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid

The tide of the ocean
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?

Insecure

Uneasy

Confident

Serene
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?

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

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 arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

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

Understatment

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Irony
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1861

1955

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The masculine ocean

The mermaids

The speaker's dog

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

Limerick

Romantic poetry

Nature poetry

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

It underscores class

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It connotes danger and panic

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

With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the speaker's demise

With the departure of a ship
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?

Sea serpents

The Loch Ness Monster

Leviathan

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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