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

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

Love is but an illusion.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?
Inefficiency

Love

Emotion

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 is too emotional for the addressee

Because this person has a short attention span

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

Sonnet

Blank verse

Free verse
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?
Religion

Life and death

Language

Love
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
“feeling is first”

“eyelids’ flutter”

“death i think is no parenthesis”

"laugh, leaning”
7 What is ironic about this poem?
We know, but the speaker does not, that this love is going to fail.

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

It is not actually about feeling.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?
Following a linear narrative

Heavily based on repetition

Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Evocative of the structure of another poem
9 Which of the following is a personification?
"i swear by all flowers"

"kisses are a better fate"

"life's not a paragraph"

“my blood approves"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?
Pessimistic

Assertive

Affectionate

Philosophical
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?
Urban

Unspecified, abstract

Intergalactic

Pastoral
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
“my blood”

“my brain”

“your eyelids’”

"Spring is in the world"
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?
War, violence, and discord

Death, trauma, and pain

Aging, senility, and vulnerability

Fertility, vitality, and youth
14 Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning that "flowers" may have in this poem?
Ephemerality

Fertility

Nature

Artificiality
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.

"Blood" can "spring" forth.

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?
Death is something that can be ignored.

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.

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

What happens after death is a mystery.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?
She is more religious.

She is less optimistic.

She is more aggressive.

She believes in logic and reason.
18 "since feeling is first" was published in which of the following books?
Tulips & Chimneys

EIMI

The Enormous Room

is 5
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?
Kitsch and cheesy

Traditional and conforming

Experimental and unconventional

Violent and gory
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?
"i swear by all flowers"

"wholly to be a fool"

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

"we are for each other"
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?
Asyndeton

Personification

Synecdoche

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

Synecdoche

Sarcasm

Alliteration
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?
It is antithetical to the word "syntax" in an earlier stanza.

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

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

It may symbolize the simplicity of linguistic constructs.

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