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"?

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.

Love is but an illusion.

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

Both in love and in life, you must prioritize feeling over thinking.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?

Emotion

Love

Reason

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

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar

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

Because this person has a short attention span

Because this person is too emotional for the addressee
4 Which of the following best describes the form and meter of this poem?

Blank verse

Free verse

Sonnet

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

Love

Religion

Life and death

Language
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?

“death i think is no parenthesis”

“feeling is first”

"laugh, leaning”

“eyelids’ flutter”
7 What is ironic about this poem?

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

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

It is not actually about feeling.

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?

Following a linear narrative

Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Evocative of the structure of another poem

Heavily based on repetition
9 Which of the following is a personification?

"i swear by all flowers"

"kisses are a better fate"

"life's not a paragraph"

“my blood approves"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?

Assertive

Philosophical

Pessimistic

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

Pastoral

Unspecified, abstract

Intergalactic

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

“my blood”

“my brain”

“your eyelids’”

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

Aging, senility, and vulnerability

Fertility, vitality, and youth

Death, trauma, and pain

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

Nature

Ephemerality

Fertility

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

The speaker is trying to be resilient like a "spring" after witnessing "bloodshed" and violence.

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

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

"Blood" can "spring" forth.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?

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

What happens after death is a mystery.

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.

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

She believes in logic and reason.

She is more aggressive.

She is less optimistic.

She is more religious.
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?

1946

1916

1936

1926
20 Which of the following best describes the collection in which this poem was published?

Violent and gory

Traditional and conforming

Experimental and unconventional

Kitsch and cheesy
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?

"i swear by all flowers"

"we are for each other"

"wholly to be a fool"

"[...] is less than [...]"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?

It is repeated twice.

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

It is used in an alliteration.

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

Personification

Synecdoche

Alliteration

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

Metaphor

Alliteration

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

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

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

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