First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Edna Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna Millay
2 What is the title of the poem?
Second Fig

First Fig

Light

Candlelight
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"
burns at both ends

gives me such a fright

will not last the night

belongs to my foes and my friends
4 How many lines are in the poem?
6

5

3

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

couplet

quatrain

sextet
6 Why might have Millay chosen the particular length of this poem to be what it is?
The poem is incomplete.

She was too lazy to write more.

The form demonstrates the content.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.
7 What do figs represent?
Patience, caution

Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity

Poison, shame, and disgust

Rottenness, bitterness in life
8 What does the candle represent?
Immortality

The speaker's life

Religion

The speaker's faith
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
A fast and intense lifestyle that leads to burnout or death.

Wit and elegance.

The intelligence to create more light.

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

Hens

Lends

Sends
11 What word rhymes with "night" in the poem?
Light

Sight

Kite

Might
12 What is the meter?
Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Common meter

Free verse
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?
Eight and six

Five and four

Eight and seven

The syllables per line do not alternate
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?
Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme

Personification
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
People-pleasing

Seizing the Night

Challenging Gender Norms

Light and Vitality
16 How does the speaker describe her light?
Gorgeous

Radiant

Lovely

Beautiful
17 What does the light represent?
The coming of day

The speaker's vitality and passion

Danger

Electricity
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?
It means that she lived a public, authentic, and controversial lifestyle.

The speaker hated everyone.

The speaker was antisocial.

It is not relevant.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
A question

An exclamation

A dash

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

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

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

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

A Few Figs From Thistles

Second April

Collected Poems
22 When was the collection published?
1920

1922

1925

1923
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1900

1880

1915

1892
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Vermont

New York

Florida

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

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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.

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