First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

1 What is the poet's full name?
Vicenta Millay

Edna Vincent Millay

Edna Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay
2 What is the title of the poem?
Light

First Fig

Candlelight

Second Fig
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"
will not last the night

burns at both ends

gives me such a fright

belongs to my foes and my friends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
3

6

5

4
5 What is the name for a stanza with the amount of lines that this poem has?
quatrain

quintet

sextet

couplet
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

The poem is incomplete.

The form demonstrates the content.

She was too lazy to write more.
7 What do figs represent?
Patience, caution

Rottenness, bitterness in life

Poison, shame, and disgust

Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity
8 What does the candle represent?
Immortality

Religion

The speaker's life

The speaker's faith
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
Wit and elegance.

The intelligence to create more light.

A fast and intense lifestyle that leads to burnout or death.

A person who hates studying.
10 What word rhymes with "ends" in the poem?
Lends

Sends

Friends

Hens
11 What word rhymes with "night" in the poem?
Kite

Light

Sight

Might
12 What is the meter?
Common meter

Free verse

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
Eight and seven

The syllables per line do not alternate

Eight and six

Five and four
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Rhyme

Personification

Alliteration

Metaphor
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
Challenging Gender Norms

Seizing the Night

Light and Vitality

People-pleasing
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Beautiful

Radiant

Lovely

Gorgeous
17 What does the light represent?
Danger

The coming of day

Electricity

The speaker's vitality and passion
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
It is not relevant.

The speaker hated everyone.

It means that she lived a public, authentic, and controversial lifestyle.

The speaker was antisocial.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
An exclamation

A dash

A period

A question
20 What is a spondee?
A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
Second April

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Collected Poems

A Few Figs From Thistles
22 When was the collection published?
1922

1925

1920

1923
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1915

1900

1880

1892
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
New York

Vermont

Maine

Florida
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

First Fig Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for First Fig is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for First Fig

First Fig study guide contains a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for First Fig…