Nick and the Candlestick Quizzes

Nick and the Candlestick Quiz

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

A coal miner

A soldier

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?
20

10

14

6
4 To what does the poem most frequently allude?
World War I

First-wave feminism

Christianity

Fairytales
5 Which line is an example of simile?
"I have hung our cave with roses"

"I am a miner."

"Old cave of calcium"

"They weld to me like plums."
6 The speaker addressing her listener as "embryo" is an example of what?
Metonymy

Synecdoche

Simile

Hyperbole
7 What does the word "exude" mean?
To leave out or exclude

To release or ooze

To repeatedly question

The exit of a cave
8 Who does the speaker address?
A coworker

A salesman

God

Her child
9 What does the cave most nearly symbolize?
Capitalism

Nature

Illness

Motherhood
10 What is a first communion?
A concept in Marxist theory

A ceremony in the Catholic church

An examination in British elementary schools

A historical period in the eighteenth century
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
It has no regular rhyme scheme

ABCA

ABAB

ABBA
12 What does the word "Victoriana" allude to?
The material culture and attitudes of the nineteenth century

The life of Queen Victoria

The material rewards of military victory

Nothing; it is a nonsense word
13 Which is most prominent in the line "Old cave of calcium"?
Sibilance

Apostrophe

Internal rhyme

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

Skeptical

Exhausted

Hopeful
15 What does the candle most nearly symbolize?
The baby

The preindustrial age

Healing

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

A womb

A car

A palace
17 What types of stanzas are in the poem?
tercets

couplets

quatrains

quintains
18 What does the word "stalactites" mean?
formations that rise from a cave floor

formations that hang from a cave ceiling

formations that push out of a cave wall

underwater volcanoes in mines and caves
19 What do roses and rugs most nearly symbolize?
Materialism

Domestic safety

Luxury

Inequality
20 What object does the speaker compare fish to?
Pillows

Knives

Hands

Teeth
21 Which is not a prominent theme of this poem?
Labor and work

Religion

Home and the domestic

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

I

A

S
23 Which best describes the mine in which the poem is partially set?
Alien and bizarre

Unexpectedly lively

Empty and sad

Spooky and suspenseful
24 Which appears in the lines "And the fish, the fish—/Christ! they are panes of ice"
Personification

Anaphora

Simile

Metaphor
25 Which line does not contain alliteration?
"Atoms that cripple drip"

"You are the baby in the barn."

"The blood blooms clean"

""Solid the spaces lean on, envious"

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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.

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