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"?
Love is but an illusion.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.

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

Wisdom is the highest virtue.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?
Emotion

Inefficiency

Reason

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

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

Blank verse

Sonnet

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

Language

Religion

Love
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
"laugh, leaning”

“feeling is first”

“eyelids’ flutter”

“death i think is no parenthesis”
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?
"kisses are a better fate"

"life's not a paragraph"

"i swear by all flowers"

“my blood approves"
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?
Urban

Pastoral

Intergalactic

Unspecified, abstract
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
“my blood”

“your eyelids’”

“my brain”

"Spring is in the world"
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?
Death, trauma, and pain

War, violence, and discord

Fertility, vitality, and youth

Aging, senility, and vulnerability
14 Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning that "flowers" may have in this poem?
Fertility

Artificiality

Nature

Ephemerality
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.

"Blood" can "spring" forth.

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.

Death is something that can be ignored.

What happens after death is a mystery.
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?
EIMI

Tulips & Chimneys

The Enormous Room

is 5
19 In what year was this poem published?
1936

1916

1946

1926
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?
"[...] is less than [...]"

"i swear by all flowers"

"wholly to be a fool"

"we are for each other"
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?
Alliteration

Asyndeton

Personification

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

Sarcasm

Metaphor

Alliteration
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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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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