I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

By John Melendez · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed February 06, 2022

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Whales

Mermaids

Krakens

Frigates
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Until We met the Solid Town –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?

Frigates

Luxury liners

Submarines

Rowboats
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?

Anger to panic

Anxiety to comfort

Wonder to fear

Happiness to despair
5 What is the setting of the poem?

The beach

A coral reef

The deck of a ship

A harbor
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?

A whaling ship

The ocean

Seagulls

Mermaids
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The mermaids

The speaker

The speaker's dog

The frigates
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?

"The Little Mermaid"

"The Sea Lady"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"Undine"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?

6

2

3

12
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?

Sirens

Sea nymphs

Salamanders

Selkies
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABCB

ABBA

ABAB

None
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Hans Christian Anderson

Herman Melville

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?

Ropes from a frigate

The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid

The tide of the ocean
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?

Confident

Insecure

Serene

Uneasy
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?

A needle in a haystack

A bee in a hive

A grain of a sand in the desert

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave
17 What is the climax of the poem?

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The speaker seeing the mermaids

The speaker's attempt to escape the water
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?

Onomatopoeia

Understatment

Irony

Personification
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1861

1955

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The hempen hands

The speaker's dog

The masculine ocean

The mermaids
21 What best describes the poem's genre?

Romantic poetry

Light verse

Nature poetry

Limerick
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?

It connotes danger and panic

It underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves
23 How does the poem end?

With the speaker's demise

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the departure of a ship

With the swimming of mermaids
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?

Rock on the beach

The pull of the waves

Ropes aboard a ship

The hands of sea creature
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

Leviathan

The Loch Ness Monster

Mermaids

Sea serpents

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I Started Early — Took My Dog — study guide contains a biography of Emily Dickinson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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