I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?
Frigates

Mermaids

Whales

Krakens
2 Which of the following lines does NOT contain alliteration?
"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"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

Rowboats

Submarines
4 What words best describe the emotional shift of the poem?
Anger to panic

Anxiety to comfort

Happiness to despair

Wonder to fear
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?
Mermaids

A whaling ship

The ocean

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker

The frigates

The mermaids

The speaker's dog
8 What is the most famous story about mermaids?
"The Sea Lady"

"Undine"

"The Little Mermaid"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"
9 How many stanzas does the poem have?
6

12

2

3
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?
Salamanders

Sea nymphs

Sirens

Selkies
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCB

ABBA

ABAB

None
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?
Herman Melville

H.G. Wells

Emily Dickinson

Hans Christian Anderson
13 What grabs the speaker?
Ropes from a frigate

The tide of the ocean

The arms of a man

The hands of a mermaid
14 What word best describes the tone of the poem?
Uneasy

Serene

Confident

Insecure
15 To what does the speaker compare being devoured by the ocean?
A grain of a sand in the desert

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve

A bee in a hive

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

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

Showcases the range of emotions the ocean can elicit
17 What is the climax of the poem?
The arrival of the speaker's dog

The speaker feeling like a mouse

The speaker's attempt to escape the water

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

Personification

Understatment

Onomatopoeia
19 When was the poem published?
1861

1981

1955

1891
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?
The speaker's dog

The masculine ocean

The hempen hands

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

Light verse

Limerick

Nature poetry
22 How does the line "I felt his Silver Heel" function in the poem's fourth stanza?
It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

It underscores class

It connotes danger and panic

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator
23 How does the poem end?
With the departure of a ship

With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the speaker's demise
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?
Mermaids

Sea serpents

Leviathan

The Loch Ness Monster

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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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