I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Frigates

Whales

Mermaids

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

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?

Luxury liners

Rowboats

Submarines

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

Anxiety to comfort

Happiness to despair

Anger to panic

Wonder to fear
5 What is the setting of the poem?

The beach

A harbor

A coral reef

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 speaker's dog

The speaker

The frigates

The mermaids
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?

3

2

12

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

Selkies

Sirens

Sea nymphs

Salamanders
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABCB

None

ABBA

ABAB
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 tide of the ocean

The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?

Insecure

Serene

Confident

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

A needle in a haystack

A grain of a sand in the desert

A bee in a hive

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve
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

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

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit
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?

Personification

Irony

Understatment

Onomatopoeia
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1955

1861

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The hempen hands

The mermaids

The speaker's dog

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 swimming of mermaids

With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's narrow escape

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

Rock on the beach

Ropes aboard a ship

The hands of sea creature

The pull of the waves
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

The Loch Ness Monster

Mermaids

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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