I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Whales

Frigates

Mermaids

Krakens
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"
3 What kind of ship does the speaker see in the second stanza of the poem?
Luxury liners

Rowboats

Submarines

Frigates
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?
Happiness to despair

Anger to panic

Wonder to fear

Anxiety to comfort
5 What is the setting of the poem?
A harbor

A coral reef

The beach

The deck of a ship
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?
The ocean

Seagulls

Mermaids

A whaling ship
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker's dog

The frigates

The speaker

The mermaids
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"The Little Mermaid"

"Undine"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Sea Lady"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
6

3

12

2
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Salamanders

Sirens

Selkies

Sea nymphs
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
None

ABAB

ABCB

ABBA
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Hans Christian Anderson

Herman Melville

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells
13 What grabs the speaker?
The tide of the ocean

The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid

Ropes from a frigate
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Serene

Uneasy

Confident

Insecure
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive

A needle in a haystack

A grain of a sand in the desert
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?
Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Describes the way the light bounces off of the surface of a wave

Captures the volatility and danger of the water
17 What is the climax of the poem?
The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The speaker seeing the mermaids
18 The lines "And Frigates – in the Upper Floor / Extended Hempen Hands" contain which of the following?
Understatment

Onomatopoeia

Irony

Personification
19 When was the poem published?
1955

1891

1981

1861
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The speaker's dog

The hempen hands

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 reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class
23 How does the poem end?
With the departure of a ship

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the speaker's demise

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

Ropes aboard a ship

Rock on the beach

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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