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?
"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Frigates

Rowboats

Submarines

Luxury liners
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

A coral reef

The deck of a ship

A harbor
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 frigates

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

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Sea Lady"

"The Little Mermaid"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
6

3

12

2
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Sirens

Salamanders

Selkies

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

ABCB

None

ABAB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson

Herman Melville

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?
The hands of a mermaid

The tide of the ocean

The arms of a man

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

Insecure

Confident

Serene
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A bee in a hive

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A needle in a haystack

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 speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The arrival of the speaker's dog

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

Understatment

Personification

Irony
19 When was the poem published?
1861

1891

1955

1981
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?
Limerick

Romantic poetry

Light verse

Nature poetry
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 speaker's narrow escape

With the speaker's demise

With the departure of a ship

With the swimming of mermaids
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?
The hands of sea creature

The pull of the waves

Ropes aboard a ship

Rock on the beach
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?
Sea serpents

Mermaids

Leviathan

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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