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"?

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.

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

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

Inefficiency

Emotion

Reason

Love
3 Why is the person "who pays any attention to the syntax of things" unable to "wholly kiss" the addressee?

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar

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
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?

Love

Language

Religion

Life and death
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?

“eyelids’ flutter”

“death i think is no parenthesis”

“feeling is first”

"laugh, leaning”
7 What is ironic about this poem?

It is not actually about feeling.

We know, but the speaker does not, that this love is going to fail.

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?

Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Following a linear narrative

Evocative of the structure of another poem

Heavily based on repetition
9 Which of the following is a personification?

"i swear by all flowers"

"life's not a paragraph"

“my blood approves"

"kisses are a better fate"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?

Philosophical

Assertive

Pessimistic

Affectionate
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?

Pastoral

Intergalactic

Urban

Unspecified, abstract
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?

“your eyelids’”

“my brain”

"Spring is in the world"

“my blood”
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?

Fertility, vitality, and youth

Aging, senility, and vulnerability

Death, trauma, and pain

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

Fertility

Ephemerality

Artificiality

Nature
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?

"Blood" can "spring" forth.

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

Hot water "springs" are good for "blood" circulation.

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?

What happens after death is a mystery.

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

Death is something that can be ignored.

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?

She is less optimistic.

She is more aggressive.

She is more religious.

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

EIMI

The Enormous Room

is 5

Tulips & Chimneys
19 In what year was this poem published?

1946

1936

1916

1926
20 Which of the following best describes the collection in which this poem was published?

Traditional and conforming

Experimental and unconventional

Violent and gory

Kitsch and cheesy
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?

"i swear by all flowers"

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

"wholly to be a fool"

"we are for each other"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?

It is used in an alliteration.

It is evocative of the word "holy."

It evokes a sense of holiness and sacredness in addition to perfection.

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

Asyndeton

Personification

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

Sarcasm

Alliteration

Synecdoche

Metaphor
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

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 simplicity of linguistic constructs.

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