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.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.

Love is but an illusion.

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

Love

Emotion

Reason
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 this person is too emotional for the addressee

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

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

Sonnet

Free verse

Blank verse
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?
Love

Language

Religion

Life and death
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
“feeling is first”

"laugh, leaning”

“death i think is no parenthesis”

“eyelids’ flutter”
7 What is ironic about this poem?
Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.

It is not actually about feeling.

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

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?
Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Following a linear narrative

Heavily based on repetition

Evocative of the structure of another poem
9 Which of the following is a personification?
“my blood approves"

"life's not a paragraph"

"i swear by all flowers"

"kisses are a better fate"
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?
Intergalactic

Urban

Pastoral

Unspecified, abstract
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
"Spring is in the world"

“my brain”

“your eyelids’”

“my blood”
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

Artificiality

Ephemerality

Fertility
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?
"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

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

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

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

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

Death is something that can be ignored.

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.
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?
EIMI

Tulips & Chimneys

The Enormous Room

is 5
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?
Kitsch and cheesy

Traditional and conforming

Violent and gory

Experimental and unconventional
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?
"wholly to be a fool"

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

"i swear by all flowers"

"we are for each other"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?
It is repeated twice.

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

Synecdoche

Personification

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

Alliteration

Metaphor

Synecdoche
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?
It is parallel to the word "parenthesis" in the subsequent line.

It may symbolize the simplicity of linguistic constructs.

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

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

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