I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Mermaids

Krakens

Frigates

Whales
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"
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?
Wonder to fear

Anxiety to comfort

Happiness to despair

Anger to panic
5 What is the setting of the poem?
A harbor

The beach

A coral reef

The deck of a ship
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
Mermaids

The ocean

A whaling ship

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The frigates

The speaker's dog

The speaker

The mermaids
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?
6

2

3

12
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Selkies

Sirens

Salamanders

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

ABCB

ABAB

None
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Hans Christian Anderson

H.G. Wells

Emily Dickinson

Herman Melville
13 What grabs the speaker?
The arms of a man

The tide of the ocean

Ropes from a frigate

The hands of a mermaid
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 needle in a haystack

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive

A grain of a sand in the desert
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?
Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

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 arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker seeing the mermaids

The speaker feeling like a mouse
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?
Personification

Onomatopoeia

Understatment

Irony
19 When was the poem published?
1955

1861

1981

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The speaker's dog

The hempen hands

The mermaids

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

Romantic poetry

Nature poetry

Light verse
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It connotes danger and panic

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

The pull of the waves

The hands of sea creature

Ropes aboard a ship
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?
The Loch Ness Monster

Mermaids

Sea serpents

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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