First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

1 What is the poet's full name?

Vicenta Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna Vincent Millay

Edna Millay
2 What is the title of the poem?

Candlelight

Second Fig

Light

First Fig
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"

burns at both ends

belongs to my foes and my friends

will not last the night

gives me such a fright
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

sextet

quatrain
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.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

The form demonstrates the content.
7 What do figs represent?

Rottenness, bitterness in life

Poison, shame, and disgust

Patience, caution

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

The speaker's faith

Immortality

The speaker's life

Religion
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?

The intelligence to create more light.

Wit and elegance.

A person who hates studying.

A fast and intense lifestyle that leads to burnout or death.
10 What word rhymes with "ends" in the poem?

Hens

Friends

Sends

Lends
11 What word rhymes with "night" in the poem?

Sight

Might

Light

Kite
12 What is the meter?

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Common meter
13 What number of alternating syllables per line does this poem have?

Eight and six

Five and four

The syllables per line do not alternate

Eight and seven
14 Which poetic device is not used in the poem?

Alliteration

Personification

Rhyme

Metaphor
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?

People-pleasing

Seizing the Night

Light and Vitality

Challenging Gender Norms
16 How does the speaker describe her light?

Lovely

Beautiful

Radiant

Gorgeous
17 What does the light represent?

The coming of day

Electricity

The speaker's vitality and passion

Danger
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?

The speaker hated everyone.

It is not relevant.

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 period

A question

A dash
20 What is a spondee?

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

A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

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

Collected Poems

A Few Figs From Thistles

Second April

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver
22 When was the collection published?

1925

1920

1923

1922
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?

1900

1892

1915

1880
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?

Florida

Vermont

New York

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

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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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