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

Reason

Inefficiency

Love
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 this person has a short attention span

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar
4 Which of the following best describes the form and meter of this poem?
Sonnet

Ballad meter

Blank verse

Free verse
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?
Language

Religion

Love

Life and death
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
“death i think is no parenthesis”

"laugh, leaning”

“eyelids’ flutter”

“feeling is first”
7 What is ironic about this poem?
It is not actually about feeling.

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

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

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.
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?
"i swear by all flowers"

“my blood approves"

"kisses are a better fate"

"life's not a paragraph"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?
Affectionate

Assertive

Pessimistic

Philosophical
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?
Pastoral

Urban

Intergalactic

Unspecified, abstract
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
“your eyelids’”

“my brain”

"Spring is in the world"

“my blood”
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?
Aging, senility, and vulnerability

Death, trauma, and pain

Fertility, vitality, and youth

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

Fertility

Artificiality

Nature
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?
"Blood" can "spring" forth.

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

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

Hot water "springs" are good for "blood" circulation.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?
Death is something that can be ignored.

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.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?
She is less optimistic.

She is more religious.

She believes in logic and reason.

She is more aggressive.
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?
1916

1946

1926

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

Kitsch and cheesy

Traditional and conforming

Experimental and unconventional
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?
"[...] is less than [...]"

"we are for each other"

"i swear by all flowers"

"wholly to be a fool"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?
It is evocative of the word "holy."

It is repeated twice.

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

It is used in an alliteration.
23 "the best gesture of my brain is less than / your eyelids’ flutter" is an example of which of the following?
Asyndeton

Personification

Synecdoche

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

Alliteration

Synecdoche

Metaphor
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?
It may symbolize the artificiality 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 simplicity of linguistic constructs.

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