I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Mermaids

Frigates

Whales

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

"But no Man moved Me – till the Tide"

"Extended Hempen Hands –"

"Went past my simple Shoe –"

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

Rowboats

Frigates

Luxury liners

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

Anger to panic

Happiness to despair

Anxiety to comfort

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

A coral reef

A harbor

The beach

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

Seagulls

The ocean

Mermaids

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

The mermaids

The frigates

The speaker

The speaker's dog
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?

3

2

12

6
10 Which of the following is the Scottish iteration of the mermaid myth?

Sea nymphs

Salamanders

Selkies

Sirens
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBA

ABAB

None

ABCB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

H.G. Wells

Herman Melville

Hans Christian Anderson

Emily Dickinson
13 What grabs the speaker?

The arms of a man

The tide of the ocean

The hands of a mermaid

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

Serene

Uneasy

Insecure

Confident
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?

Captures the volatility and danger of the water

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

Articulates the fears women had about their safety and wellbeing

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 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?

Understatment

Irony

Onomatopoeia

Personification
19 When was the poem published?

1981

1861

1891

1955
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The mermaids

The masculine ocean

The speaker's dog

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

Limerick

Romantic poetry

Light verse

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

It underscores class

It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves

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

With the swimming of mermaids

With the speaker's demise

With the speaker's narrow escape

With the departure of a ship
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?

Sea serpents

Mermaids

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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