I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Whales

Krakens

Frigates

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?
Luxury liners

Rowboats

Submarines

Frigates
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?
A coral reef

The beach

The deck of a ship

A harbor
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
The ocean

Mermaids

Seagulls

A whaling ship
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker

The frigates

The mermaids

The speaker's dog
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Little Mermaid"

"Undine"

"The Sea Lady"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
6

12

2

3
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Salamanders

Sirens

Selkies

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

ABCB

None

ABBA
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Herman Melville

Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?
The arms of a man

Ropes from a frigate

The hands of a mermaid

The tide of the ocean
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Uneasy

Confident

Insecure

Serene
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A grain of a sand in the desert

A bee in a hive

A needle in a haystack

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's attempt to escape the water

The arrival of the speaker's dog

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

Understatment

Onomatopoeia

Irony
19 When was the poem published?
1891

1955

1981

1861
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The speaker's dog

The mermaids

The masculine ocean

The hempen hands
21 What best describes the poem's genre?
Romantic poetry

Limerick

Light verse

Nature poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class
23 How does the poem end?
With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's demise

With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's narrow escape
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?
Rock on the beach

The pull of the waves

Ropes aboard a ship

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

Leviathan

Sea serpents

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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