since feeling is first Quizzes

since feeling is first Quiz

1 Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of "since feeling is first"?

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

Both in love and in life, you must prioritize feeling over thinking.

Love is but an illusion.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?

Love

Reason

Emotion

Inefficiency
3 Why is the person "who pays any attention to the syntax of things" unable to "wholly kiss" the addressee?

Because this person is too emotional for the addressee

Because a kiss requires feeling, and this person prioritizes reason over feeling

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar

Because this person has a short attention span
4 Which of the following best describes the form and meter of this poem?

Free verse

Blank verse

Ballad meter

Sonnet
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?

Language

Love

Religion

Life and death
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?

"laugh, leaning”

“eyelids’ flutter”

“death i think is no parenthesis”

“feeling is first”
7 What is ironic about this poem?

We know, but the speaker does not, that this love is going to fail.

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

It is not actually about feeling.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?

Heavily based on repetition

Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Following a linear narrative

Evocative of the structure of another poem
9 Which of the following is a personification?

"i swear by all flowers"

“my blood approves"

"life's not a paragraph"

"kisses are a better fate"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?

Assertive

Affectionate

Philosophical

Pessimistic
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?

Intergalactic

Unspecified, abstract

Pastoral

Urban
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?

“my brain”

“my blood”

“your eyelids’”

"Spring is in the world"
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?

Death, trauma, and pain

Fertility, vitality, and youth

Aging, senility, and vulnerability

War, violence, and discord
14 Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning that "flowers" may have in this poem?

Nature

Fertility

Ephemerality

Artificiality
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?

Hot water "springs" are good for "blood" circulation.

"Blood" can "spring" forth.

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

The speaker is trying to be resilient like a "spring" after witnessing "bloodshed" and violence.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.

Death is not something we should keep in mind in everyday life.

What happens after death is a mystery.

Death is something that can be ignored.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?

She is more aggressive.

She believes in logic and reason.

She is more religious.

She is less optimistic.
18 "since feeling is first" was published in which of the following books?

Tulips & Chimneys

is 5

EIMI

The Enormous Room
19 In what year was this poem published?

1926

1916

1946

1936
20 Which of the following best describes the collection in which this poem was published?

Violent and gory

Experimental and unconventional

Kitsch and cheesy

Traditional and conforming
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?

"we are for each other"

"i swear by all flowers"

"[...] is less than [...]"

"wholly to be a fool"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?

It is used in an alliteration.

It evokes a sense of holiness and sacredness in addition to perfection.

It is evocative of the word "holy."

It is repeated twice.
23 "the best gesture of my brain is less than / your eyelids’ flutter" is an example of which of the following?

Personification

Asyndeton

Synecdoche

Alliteration
24 "laugh, leaning back in my arms / for life’s not a paragraph" does NOT contain which of the following?

Alliteration

Metaphor

Synecdoche

Sarcasm
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?

It may symbolize the simplicity of linguistic constructs.

It is antithetical to the word "syntax" in an earlier stanza.

It is parallel to the word "parenthesis" in the subsequent line.

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

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since feeling is first study guide contains a biography of E. E. Cummings, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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