First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

1 What is the poet's full name?
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Vicenta Millay

Edna Vincent Millay

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

Light

Candlelight

First 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

3

5

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

sextet

couplet

quintet
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 form demonstrates the content.

The poem is incomplete.

She was too lazy to write more.
7 What do figs represent?
Poison, shame, and disgust

Patience, caution

Rottenness, bitterness in life

Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity
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?
Wit and elegance.

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

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?
Might

Sight

Kite

Light
12 What is the meter?
Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Blank 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?
Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme

Personification
15 Which is not a theme in the poem?
Seizing the Night

Challenging Gender Norms

People-pleasing

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

Radiant

Lovely

Beautiful
17 What does the light represent?
The speaker's vitality and passion

The coming of day

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.

It is not relevant.

The speaker was antisocial.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
A question

A period

An exclamation

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?
The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Second April

Collected Poems

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

1923

1920

1925
23 When was Edna St. Vincent Millay born?
1880

1915

1892

1900
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Maine

Vermont

Florida

New York
25 What is the tone of the poem?
Bitter, Wrathful, Seeking

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Pessimistic, Fearful, Angry

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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