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?

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

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

Frigates

Luxury liners

Rowboats

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

Happiness to despair

Anxiety to comfort

Anger to panic

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

The deck of a ship

The beach

A harbor

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

Mermaids

A whaling ship

Seagulls

The ocean
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The mermaids

The speaker

The speaker's dog

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

"The Sea Lady"

"Undine"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Little Mermaid"
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?

Salamanders

Selkies

Sirens

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

None

ABCB

ABAB

ABBA
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Herman Melville

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells

Hans Christian Anderson
13 What grabs the speaker?

The tide of the ocean

The hands of a mermaid

The arms of a man

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

Serene

Confident

Insecure

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

A grain of a sand in the desert

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive

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 speaker feeling like a mouse

The arrival of the speaker's dog

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?

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Irony

Understatment
19 When was the poem published?

1891

1955

1981

1861
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The masculine ocean

The speaker's dog

The hempen hands

The mermaids
21 What best describes the poem's genre?

Nature poetry

Light verse

Limerick

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

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

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"?

The pull of the waves

Ropes aboard a ship

Rock on the beach

The hands of sea creature
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

The Loch Ness Monster

Sea serpents

Mermaids

Leviathan

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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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