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

Krakens

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

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

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

Submarines

Frigates

Rowboats

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

Wonder to fear

Anxiety to comfort

Anger to panic

Happiness to despair
5 What is the setting of the poem?

A harbor

The beach

The deck of a ship

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

The ocean

A whaling ship

Mermaids

Seagulls
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"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Little Mermaid"

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

12

2

3

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

Sirens

Sea nymphs

Salamanders

Selkies
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABCB

None

ABBA

ABAB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Hans Christian Anderson

Herman Melville

H.G. Wells

Emily Dickinson
13 What grabs the speaker?

The tide of the ocean

The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid

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

Confident

Insecure

Uneasy

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

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A needle in a haystack

A grain of a sand in the desert

A bee in a hive
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 feeling like a mouse

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker seeing the mermaids

The arrival of the speaker's dog
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?

Onomatopoeia

Irony

Personification

Understatment
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1861

1955

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The mermaids

The speaker's dog

The hempen hands

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

Nature poetry

Romantic poetry

Light verse

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

It connotes danger and panic

It underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves
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"?

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?

Mermaids

The Loch Ness Monster

Leviathan

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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