First Fig Quizzes

First Fig Quiz

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

Edna Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Vicenta Millay
2 What is the title of the poem?
Candlelight

First Fig

Light

Second Fig
3 Finish this quote: "My candle___"
gives me such a fright

burns at both ends

belongs to my foes and my friends

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

6

5

3
5 What is the name for a stanza with the amount of lines that this poem has?
sextet

quatrain

quintet

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 form demonstrates the content.

The poem is incomplete.

She was too lazy to write more.
7 What do figs represent?
Rottenness, bitterness in life

Sweetness, enjoyment of life, femininity

Poison, shame, and disgust

Patience, caution
8 What does the candle represent?
Religion

Immortality

The speaker's life

The speaker's faith
9 What does the idiom of a candle burning at both ends mean?
A person who hates studying.

Wit and elegance.

The intelligence to create more light.

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

Hens

Lends

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

Kite

Sight

Light
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?
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?
Personification

Rhyme

Metaphor

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

Light and Vitality

Challenging Gender Norms

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

Gorgeous

Lovely

Beautiful
17 What does the light represent?
Danger

Electricity

The coming of day

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

It is not relevant.

The speaker was antisocial.

It means that she lived a public, authentic, and controversial lifestyle.
19 What punctuation mark does the poem end with?
A dash

A period

A question

An exclamation
20 What is a spondee?
A foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables.

A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

A foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.
21 Which collection was this poem originally published in?
Second April

A Few Figs From Thistles

Collected Poems

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver
22 When was the collection published?
1923

1922

1920

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

1915

1892

1900
24 Where did Millay live her adult life?
Florida

New York

Vermont

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

Assertive, Celebratory, Passionate

Joyful, Airy, Shrewd

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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