Nick and the Candlestick Quizzes

Nick and the Candlestick Quiz

1 Who is the speaker of "Nick and the Candlestick"?
A soldier

A Christian zealot

A coal miner

A new mother
2 What does the speaker allude to in the poem's final line?
Jesus

Irish independence

Greek mythology

Agriculture
3 How many stanzas are in the poem?
14

10

20

6
4 To what does the poem most frequently allude?
Christianity

Fairytales

World War I

First-wave feminism
5 Which line is an example of simile?
"Old cave of calcium"

"They weld to me like plums."

"I have hung our cave with roses"

"I am a miner."
6 The speaker addressing her listener as "embryo" is an example of what?
Synecdoche

Metonymy

Hyperbole

Simile
7 What does the word "exude" mean?
To repeatedly question

To release or ooze

The exit of a cave

To leave out or exclude
8 Who does the speaker address?
God

A salesman

Her child

A coworker
9 What does the cave most nearly symbolize?
Nature

Motherhood

Illness

Capitalism
10 What is a first communion?
A historical period in the eighteenth century

A concept in Marxist theory

A ceremony in the Catholic church

An examination in British elementary schools
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCA

ABAB

ABBA

It has no regular rhyme scheme
12 What does the word "Victoriana" allude to?
Nothing; it is a nonsense word

The life of Queen Victoria

The material culture and attitudes of the nineteenth century

The material rewards of military victory
13 Which is most prominent in the line "Old cave of calcium"?
Apostrophe

Internal rhyme

Sibilance

Alliteration
14 Which tone characterizes the poem's closing stanzas?
Hopeful

Skeptical

Frightened

Exhausted
15 What does the candle most nearly symbolize?
Healing

The baby

The preindustrial age

Intellectual enlightenment
16 To which object does the speaker compare the mine?
A pipe

A car

A palace

A womb
17 What types of stanzas are in the poem?
couplets

quintains

tercets

quatrains
18 What does the word "stalactites" mean?
formations that hang from a cave ceiling

formations that rise from a cave floor

underwater volcanoes in mines and caves

formations that push out of a cave wall
19 What do roses and rugs most nearly symbolize?
Materialism

Inequality

Luxury

Domestic safety
20 What object does the speaker compare fish to?
Hands

Knives

Teeth

Pillows
21 Which is not a prominent theme of this poem?
Home and the domestic

Religion

Labor and work

Motherhood
22 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "waxy stalactites"?
S

A

W

I
23 Which best describes the mine in which the poem is partially set?
Empty and sad

Alien and bizarre

Spooky and suspenseful

Unexpectedly lively
24 Which appears in the lines "And the fish, the fish—/Christ! they are panes of ice"
Anaphora

Simile

Personification

Metaphor
25 Which line does not contain alliteration?
"You are the baby in the barn."

""Solid the spaces lean on, envious"

"Atoms that cripple drip"

"The blood blooms clean"

Nick and the Candlestick Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Nick and the Candlestick is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for Nick and the Candlestick

Nick and the Candlestick study guide contains a biography of Sylvia Plath, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for Nick and the Candlestick…