I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Krakens

Whales

Frigates

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

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"
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?

Happiness to despair

Wonder to fear

Anger to panic

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

A harbor

The beach

A coral reef

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

Seagulls

Mermaids

The ocean

A whaling ship
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?

"Undine"

"The Sea Lady"

"The Little Mermaid"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?

6

12

3

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

Selkies

Salamanders

Sirens

Sea nymphs
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABAB

ABCB

None

ABBA
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

H.G. Wells

Emily Dickinson

Herman Melville

Hans Christian Anderson
13 What grabs the speaker?

Ropes from a frigate

The hands of a mermaid

The arms of a man

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 bee in a hive

A grain of a sand in the desert

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A needle in a haystack
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?

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

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing
17 What is the climax of the poem?

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The arrival of the speaker's dog

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

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Irony

Understatment
19 When was the poem published?

1955

1861

1891

1981
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The masculine ocean

The speaker's dog

The hempen hands

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

Romantic poetry

Nature poetry

Limerick

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

It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator
23 How does the poem end?

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's demise

With the departure of a ship
24 What does Dickinson refer to with the phrase "hempen hands"?

The pull of the waves

The hands of sea creature

Rock on the beach

Ropes aboard a ship
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

Mermaids

The Loch Ness Monster

Sea serpents

Leviathan

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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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