since feeling is first Quizzes

since feeling is first Quiz

1 Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of "since feeling is first"?
Love is but an illusion.

Both in love and in life, you must prioritize feeling over thinking.

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?
Emotion

Love

Inefficiency

Reason
3 Why is the person "who pays any attention to the syntax of things" unable to "wholly kiss" the addressee?
Because a kiss requires feeling, and this person prioritizes reason over feeling

Because this person has a short attention span

Because this person is too emotional for the addressee

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar
4 Which of the following best describes the form and meter of this poem?
Ballad meter

Blank verse

Free verse

Sonnet
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?
Love

Religion

Life and death

Language
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
“eyelids’ flutter”

“feeling is first”

“death i think is no parenthesis”

"laugh, leaning”
7 What is ironic about this poem?
The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

It is not actually about feeling.

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.

We know, but the speaker does not, that this love is going to fail.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?
Evocative of the structure of another poem

Following a linear narrative

Heavily based on repetition

Loose; resisting a narrative structure
9 Which of the following is a personification?
“my blood approves"

"i swear by all flowers"

"kisses are a better fate"

"life's not a paragraph"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?
Affectionate

Assertive

Philosophical

Pessimistic
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?
Unspecified, abstract

Urban

Intergalactic

Pastoral
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
“your eyelids’”

“my blood”

"Spring is in the world"

“my brain”
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?
Fertility, vitality, and youth

Death, trauma, and pain

Aging, senility, and vulnerability

War, violence, and discord
14 Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning that "flowers" may have in this poem?
Artificiality

Ephemerality

Fertility

Nature
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?
Hot water "springs" are good for "blood" circulation.

The speaker is trying to be resilient like a "spring" after witnessing "bloodshed" and violence.

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

"Blood" can "spring" forth.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?
Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.

Death is not something we should keep in mind in everyday life.

Death is something that can be ignored.

What happens after death is a mystery.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?
She believes in logic and reason.

She is less optimistic.

She is more religious.

She is more aggressive.
18 "since feeling is first" was published in which of the following books?
is 5

EIMI

Tulips & Chimneys

The Enormous Room
19 In what year was this poem published?
1926

1936

1946

1916
20 Which of the following best describes the collection in which this poem was published?
Traditional and conforming

Violent and gory

Kitsch and cheesy

Experimental and unconventional
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?
"we are for each other"

"[...] is less than [...]"

"i swear by all flowers"

"wholly to be a fool"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?
It evokes a sense of holiness and sacredness in addition to perfection.

It is used in an alliteration.

It is evocative of the word "holy."

It is repeated twice.
23 "the best gesture of my brain is less than / your eyelids’ flutter" is an example of which of the following?
Synecdoche

Personification

Asyndeton

Alliteration
24 "laugh, leaning back in my arms / for life’s not a paragraph" does NOT contain which of the following?
Synecdoche

Alliteration

Metaphor

Sarcasm
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?
It may symbolize the simplicity of linguistic constructs.

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

It is parallel to the word "parenthesis" in the subsequent line.

It is antithetical to the word "syntax" in an earlier stanza.

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