First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

By Isabella Ribeiro · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed October 27, 2023

1 What is the poet's full name?

Vicenta Millay

Edna Millay

Edna Vincent 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___"

belongs to my foes and my friends

burns at both ends

gives me such a fright

will not last the night
4 How many lines are in the poem?

6

5

4

3
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?

The form demonstrates the content.

She was too lazy to write more.

She wanted to show that couplets are the superior form.

The poem is incomplete.
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?

Religion

The speaker's life

Immortality

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

The intelligence to create more light.

Wit and elegance.

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?

Friends

Lends

Hens

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

Kite

Sight

Light

Might
12 What is the meter?

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

Free verse

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

The syllables per line do not alternate

Eight and six

Eight and seven

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

Personification

Rhyme

Metaphor

Alliteration
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?

People-pleasing

Challenging Gender Norms

Light and Vitality

Seizing the Night
16 How does the speaker describe her light?

Lovely

Gorgeous

Beautiful

Radiant
17 What does the light represent?

The coming of day

Danger

Electricity

The speaker's vitality and passion
18 What is significant about the speaker having foes?

The speaker hated everyone.

The speaker was antisocial.

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

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

A period

A dash

A question

An exclamation
20 What is a spondee?

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?

Collected Poems

Second April

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

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

1920

1922

1923

1925
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?

1900

1880

1915

1892
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?

New York

Vermont

Florida

Maine
25 What is the tone of the poem?

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

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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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