I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Mermaids

Whales

Frigates

Krakens
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Frigates

Luxury liners

Submarines

Rowboats
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?
A harbor

The deck of a ship

The beach

A coral reef
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
Mermaids

Seagulls

The ocean

A whaling ship
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The frigates

The speaker

The mermaids

The speaker's dog
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"Undine"

"The Little Mermaid"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Sea Lady"
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?
Salamanders

Sirens

Selkies

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

None

ABAB

ABCB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
H.G. Wells

Herman Melville

Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson
13 What grabs the speaker?
Ropes from a frigate

The hands of a mermaid

The arms of a man

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

Confident

Serene

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

A bee in a hive

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 arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker seeing the mermaids

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

Understatment

Personification

Onomatopoeia
19 When was the poem published?
1981

1891

1861

1955
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The mermaids

The masculine ocean

The hempen hands

The speaker's dog
21 What best describes the poem's genre?
Nature poetry

Light verse

Romantic poetry

Limerick
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 shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class

It connotes danger and panic
23 How does the poem end?
With the speaker's demise

With the swimming of mermaids

With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's narrow escape
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?
Sea serpents

Leviathan

The Loch Ness Monster

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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