Nick and the Candlestick Quizzes

Nick and the Candlestick Quiz

1 Who is the speaker of "Nick and the Candlestick"?
A Christian zealot

A coal miner

A new mother

A soldier
2 What does the speaker allude to in the poem's final line?
Agriculture

Jesus

Greek mythology

Irish independence
3 How many stanzas are in the poem?
10

20

6

14
4 To what does the poem most frequently allude?
First-wave feminism

Fairytales

Christianity

World War I
5 Which line is an example of simile?
"I have hung our cave with roses"

"Old cave of calcium"

"I am a miner."

"They weld to me like plums."
6 The speaker addressing her listener as "embryo" is an example of what?
Synecdoche

Simile

Hyperbole

Metonymy
7 What does the word "exude" mean?
To release or ooze

To repeatedly question

To leave out or exclude

The exit of a cave
8 Who does the speaker address?
God

Her child

A coworker

A salesman
9 What does the cave most nearly symbolize?
Nature

Illness

Capitalism

Motherhood
10 What is a first communion?
A ceremony in the Catholic church

An examination in British elementary schools

A historical period in the eighteenth century

A concept in Marxist theory
11 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA

ABCA

ABAB

It has no regular rhyme scheme
12 What does the word "Victoriana" allude to?
Nothing; it is a nonsense word

The material culture and attitudes of the nineteenth century

The life of Queen Victoria

The material rewards of military victory
13 Which is most prominent in the line "Old cave of calcium"?
Apostrophe

Internal rhyme

Sibilance

Alliteration
14 Which tone characterizes the poem's closing stanzas?
Exhausted

Hopeful

Skeptical

Frightened
15 What does the candle most nearly symbolize?
Intellectual enlightenment

Healing

The preindustrial age

The baby
16 To which object does the speaker compare the mine?
A pipe

A car

A womb

A palace
17 What types of stanzas are in the poem?
quintains

tercets

couplets

quatrains
18 What does the word "stalactites" mean?
underwater volcanoes in mines and caves

formations that rise from a cave floor

formations that hang from a cave ceiling

formations that push out of a cave wall
19 What do roses and rugs most nearly symbolize?
Inequality

Materialism

Domestic safety

Luxury
20 What object does the speaker compare fish to?
Teeth

Knives

Pillows

Hands
21 Which is not a prominent theme of this poem?
Labor and work

Motherhood

Religion

Home and the domestic
22 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "waxy stalactites"?
W

I

A

S
23 Which best describes the mine in which the poem is partially set?
Unexpectedly lively

Spooky and suspenseful

Alien and bizarre

Empty and sad
24 Which appears in the lines "And the fish, the fish—/Christ! they are panes of ice"
Metaphor

Personification

Anaphora

Simile
25 Which line does not contain alliteration?
""Solid the spaces lean on, envious"

"You are the baby in the barn."

"Atoms that cripple drip"

"The blood blooms clean"

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Study Guide for Nick and the Candlestick

Nick and the Candlestick study guide contains a biography of Sylvia Plath, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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