I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quizzes

I Started Early — Took My Dog — Quiz

1 What is the first image the speaker encounters?

Whales

Krakens

Mermaids

Frigates
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?

Submarines

Frigates

Luxury liners

Rowboats
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 harbor

A coral reef

The deck of a ship

The beach
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 speaker's dog

The speaker

The mermaids

The frigates
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?

2

12

6

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

Salamanders

Selkies

Sirens

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

ABBA

None

ABCB

ABAB
12 Who wrote the The Little Mermaid?

Herman Melville

Emily Dickinson

H.G. Wells

Hans Christian Anderson
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

Confident

Uneasy

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

A bee in a hive

A needle in a haystack

A grain of a sand in the desert

A dewdrop on a dandelion sleeve
16 What effect does personification NOT have in the poem?

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

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's attempt to escape the water

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?

Onomatopoeia

Irony

Personification

Understatment
19 When was the poem published?

1861

1955

1891

1981
20 Who is the antagonist of the poem?

The hempen hands

The mermaids

The speaker's dog

The masculine ocean
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 underscores class

It reveals the speaker as an unreliable narrator

It connotes danger and panic

It shows the creature that has been hiding the waves
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"?

Rock on the beach

Ropes aboard a ship

The pull of the waves

The hands of sea creature
25 What mythological creature does the poem allude to?

Leviathan

The Loch Ness Monster

Sea serpents

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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