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 new mother

A soldier
2 What does the speaker allude to in the poem's final line?
Irish independence

Jesus

Greek mythology

Agriculture
3 How many stanzas are in the poem?
14

10

20

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

First-wave feminism

Christianity

World War I
5 Which line is an example of simile?
"Old cave of calcium"

"I am a miner."

"They weld to me like plums."

"I have hung our cave with roses"
6 The speaker addressing her listener as "embryo" is an example of what?
Synecdoche

Metonymy

Simile

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

The exit of a cave

To repeatedly question

To release or ooze
8 Who does the speaker address?
A salesman

Her child

A coworker

God
9 What does the cave most nearly symbolize?
Nature

Illness

Capitalism

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

A historical period in the eighteenth century

A ceremony in the Catholic church

An examination in British elementary schools
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
It has no regular rhyme scheme

ABBA

ABAB

ABCA
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"?
Alliteration

Internal rhyme

Apostrophe

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

Skeptical

Hopeful

Exhausted
15 What does the candle most nearly symbolize?
Healing

The baby

Intellectual enlightenment

The preindustrial age
16 To which object does the speaker compare the mine?
A car

A palace

A womb

A pipe
17 What types of stanzas are in the poem?
quintains

quatrains

couplets

tercets
18 What does the word "stalactites" mean?
underwater volcanoes in mines and caves

formations that push out of a cave wall

formations that hang from a cave ceiling

formations that rise from a cave floor
19 What do roses and rugs most nearly symbolize?
Inequality

Domestic safety

Materialism

Luxury
20 What object does the speaker compare fish to?
Hands

Knives

Pillows

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

Home and the domestic

Religion

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

S

W

I
23 Which best describes the mine in which the poem is partially set?
Unexpectedly lively

Spooky and suspenseful

Empty and sad

Alien and bizarre
24 Which appears in the lines "And the fish, the fish—/Christ! they are panes of ice"
Simile

Personification

Anaphora

Metaphor
25 Which line does not contain alliteration?
"The blood blooms clean"

"You are the baby in the barn."

"Atoms that cripple drip"

""Solid the spaces lean on, envious"

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…