I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Frigates

Krakens

Mermaids

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

"Until We met the Solid Town –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"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

Submarines

Luxury liners

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

Happiness to despair

Anxiety to comfort

Anger to panic

Wonder to fear
5 What is the setting of the poem?

The deck of a ship

A coral reef

A harbor

The beach
6 Which of the following things is personified as man in the poem?

The ocean

Mermaids

A whaling ship

Seagulls
7 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The speaker's dog

The speaker

The mermaids

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

"The Little Mermaid"

"Creature from the Black Lagoon"

"The Sea Lady"

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

2

12

6

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

Sirens

Selkies

Salamanders

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

ABCB

None

ABAB

ABBA
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Emily Dickinson

Hans Christian Anderson

Herman Melville

H.G. Wells
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?

Uneasy

Confident

Insecure

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

A grain of a sand in the desert

A bee in a hive

A needle in a haystack

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve
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 feeling like a mouse

The arrival of the speaker's dog

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?

Personification

Understatment

Irony

Onomatopoeia
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1891

1955

1861
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The speaker's dog

The masculine ocean

The mermaids

The hempen hands
21 What best describes the poem's genre?

Nature poetry

Light verse

Limerick

Romantic poetry
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 reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

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"?

Ropes aboard a ship

Rock on the beach

The hands of sea creature

The pull of the waves
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

Sea serpents

The Loch Ness Monster

Leviathan

Mermaids

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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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